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BOOKS BY GEORGE M. TOWLE. 

— ♦ — 

YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND . . . $1.50 

YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND . . . 1.E0 

GLIMPSES OF HISTORY. 16mo 1.50 

YOUNG FOLKS' HEROES OF HISTORY. Illustrated. 

6 volumes. Per volume, 16mo 1.25 

Vasco da Gam a; His Voyages and Adventures. 
Pizarko; His Adventures and Conquests. 
Magellan; or, The First Voyage Round the 

World. 
Marco Polo; His Travels and Adventures. 
Ralegh; His Exploits and Voyages. 
Drake; The Sea King of Devon. 

THE NATION IN A NUTSHELL 50 



LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS, 



YOUNG PEOPLE'S 



HISTORY OF IRELAND 



BY 



GEORGE MAKEPEACE TOWLE 

AUTHOR OF "HISTORY OF ENGLAND," "HISTORY OF HENRY V," "MODERN 

GREECE," "MODERN FRANCE," "ENGLAND AND RUSSIA IN 

ASIA," " ENGLAND IN EGYPT," ETC. ETC. 




BOSTON 

LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS 

NEW YORK 

CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM 

1887 



Qw 



Copyright, 1SS6, 

By lee and shepard. 



All rights reserved. 






1*- 



|the library 
of congress 

I WASHINGTON 



INTRODUCTION. 



NOTHING could better illustrate the deplorable rela- 
tions of England and Ireland, than the complete 
absence of Irish history from both English and Irish schools 
and public libraries. So far as English power could reach, 
Irish history has been obliterated, misrepresented, or left 
unwritten. The English story of Ireland would not bear 
telling, and it must not be told. 

If the Irish nation were an unimportant, uninteresting, 
unrelated element, the students of English, except the Irish 
themselves, might be excused for ignoring it. But this is 
far from being the case. In the unbroken lines of nation- 
alities, there are few, if any, longer than that of Ireland. 

By ethnology, philology, geography, history, by the beauty 
and wealth of the country, and the sentiment and character 
of its people, Ireland must be ranked with the best-defined 
nationalities. 

To justify her oppression, England has resorted to a sys- 
tem of misrepresentation and misreport. Irish antiquities 
have been doubted and belittled. The natural resources of 
the land have been left unused, and have been underrated. 



IV INTRODUCTION. 

The ancient history of Ireland has been set down as 
unreliable, mythical, — a story born of Celtic pride, imagi- 
nation, and passion. 

Yet the student who turns to the history of Ireland finds 
at a glance that he has entered an original and authentic 
region, on a study not only national, but racial. He 
finds a distinct expression of architecture in the archaic 
round towers and other Celtic remains ; of law, in the 
revered and beautiful Brehon Code ; of music, in the mar- 
vellously sweet and simple strains coming down from pre- 
historic times, and still sung by the peasant girls and played 
by the wandering minstrels ; of decorative art, in the 
fantastic tracings of Gaelic stones and manuscripts ; of 
language and literature, in the ancient and eloquent Irish 
tongue, which is as complex and as perfect as classic Greek, 
and as old as primitive Sanscrit ; of religion, in the nature- 
worship of the Magi or Druid, with its Baaltane cere- 
monies coming clearly down to the time of St. Patrick, — 
a comparatively modern period in Irish history, though 
separated from us by fourteen centuries. 

Irish history, according to the Englishman, begins only 
when he began to write it ; and he wrote it after his -own 
knowledge and for his own purpose. From the twelfth 
century, the period covered by English historians after their 
fashion, the history of Ireland is the story of an endless fight, 
— of an ancient nation's brave struggle to keep its own from 
the hands of a powerful foreign invader, filled with personal 



INTRODUCTION. V 

rapacity and an ultimate political determination to make 
the island a component part of Great Britain. 

To follow the unbroken Irish line through all these 
phases, is a work undertaken by numerous historians of 
other nations. It is a hopeful sign to see the task under- 
taken by competent hands in America. 

The Celtic element will always be an important and pro- 
gressive element of the American population. The history 
of its origin and development is a proper and necessary 
study in every American school. It is a strange fact, that, 
up to the present time, Irish history has not been studied 
even in the private schools of the Irish-American element. 

From the so-called " national schools " of Ireland, the 
national history is banished as a crime. The original and 
leading purpose of those schools was to educate the people 
out of a knowledge of their own national history. 

It is not too sanguine a hope that we have now seen the 
beginning of attention to a field that has been too long 
neglected. 

JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER 

I. Irish Legends . 

II. The Ancient Irish 

III. Saint Patrick . 

IV. Christian Ireland . 
V. Early Irish Kings . 

VI. The Invasion of the Danes 

VII. Condition of the Irish People 

VIII. The Invasion of the Normans 

IX. The English Settlement of Ire 

X. The Norman Knights 

XI. The Bruces in Ireland 

XII. Richard the Second in Ireland 

XIII. Condition of the Irish People 

XIV. The Irish Parliament . 

XV. Henry the Eighth and Ireland 

XVI. Shane O'Neil .... 

XVII. Ireland under Elizabeth . 

XVIII. The Revolt of Tyrone 

XIX. The Plantation of Ireland 

XX. Condition of the Irish People 

XXI. Wentworth's Iron Rule 

XXII. The Ten Years' Rebellion . 

XXIII. Cromwell's Iron Hand 

XXIV. Cromwell's Settlement of Irei 
XXV. The Orange and the Green 

XXVI. The Treaty of Limerick 

XXVII. The Penal Laws . 

XXVIII. Ireland Prostrate 

XXIX. Condition of the Irish People 



7 
14 

22 

2S 

35 
43 
49 
57 
66 

75 
84 

93 
102 
11 1 
120 
126 
135 
144 

*53 
161 
169 

178 
186 
194 
201 
208 
215 



Vlll 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER 

XXX. The Irish Patriots 

XXXI. The Free Parliament 

XXXII. The Insurrection of Ninety-eight 

XXXIII. The Union of the Parliaments 

XXXIV. Daniel O'Connell 
XXXV. The Three Years' Famine 

XXXVI. Later Revolts .... 

XXXVII. Gladstone's Irish Reforms 

XXXVIII. The Land League 

XXXIX. Gladstone proposes Home Rule 



2 3' 
2 39 
2 45 

252 
260 
267 

?73 
280 

287 

2 95 



YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



CHAPTER I. 

IRISH LEGENDS. 

THE trustworthy history of Ireland emerges from 
a long period of dim legend and of vague tradi- 
tions. We know nothing, as a matter of fact, of the 
earliest races which inhabited the island, and very 
little of the successive invasions, which, coming from 
various parts of the world, swept over and The island 
conquered it. Like the legends of most of Fable - 
other long-settled countries, the legends of Ireland 
abound with stories of heroism and romance, of the 
conflicts of giants, of the presence of fairies, sooth- 
sayers, and magicians, of knightly prowess, chivalry, 
and love. The ancient Irish bards, whose legendary 
tales, like those of the bards of Wales, have to some 
extent been preserved, tell of wonderful feats, of 
mighty wars, of kingly rivalries, and of rude, bar- 
baric customs. They relate how one Lady Cassair 
reigned in Erin before the Deluge ; and how, after 
that event, Erin was ruled by Partholan, a near de- 
scendant of Japhet. 



2 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

They relate how this Partholan was a savage 
monster, who had killed his father and mother from 
greed of power ; and how the race of Partholan was 
swept from the earth, to the last man, by a terrible 
pestilence. After Partholan's colony, Ireland was 
occupied by the Nemedhians, so called from their 
chief, Nemedh, who came from the borders of the 
Black Sea. Nemedh is said to have built forts, and 
cleared lands in the island. He engaged in fierce 
wars with hordes of negro sea-rovers, who came from 
The Formo- Africa, and were called Formosians. The 
sians. Formosians, who were the third race to in- 

vade Ireland, at last overcame the Nemedhians, and 
possessed the land. The Nemedhians fled, and scat- 
tered to different parts of Europe. A little later 
some of the Nemedhians, called Firbolgs, returned 
to Ireland under five brothers as their chiefs, dispos- 
sessed in turn the Formosians, and divided the 
island into five kingdoms. These made the fourth 
conquest of Ireland. 

But the Firbolgs were not allowed, according to 
the legends, to remain long undisturbed. Another 
The Tuatha branch of the Nemedhian race, called the 
de Danans. Tuatha de Danans, were the next conquer- 
ors. These are described as a race of magicians and 
warriors, who had settled in Greece, whence they 
now came to conquer their former country. In the 
decisive battle which was fought between the Fir- 
bolgs and the Tuatha, the Firbolg king was killed, 
and was buried on the shore of Sligo. It is an Irish 



IRISH LKGENDS. 3 

tradition that his grave is still to be seen, and that the 
waves have never been known to wash over it. The 
king of the Tuatha, in the same battle, lost his right 
hand ; and, as his subjects would not have a ruler 
without a right hand, a silver hand was made for him 
by one of his skilled artificers. The Tuatha, the 
legends tell us, were endowed with super- c . . 

o ' i Supernatural 

natural powers. They could work many powers of 

! t^, ii-i ,i r • the Tuatha. 

wonders. 1 hey could silence the furious 
winds. They could heal the sick, forge metals, cast 
magical spells over their enemies, and could even 
restore the dead to life. 

The Tuatha, according to the traditions, held 
their own in Ireland through a long period. They 
were often unsuccessfully assailed by the fierce black 
Formosians, whom the Firbolgs had ousted. But 
great as was their prowess, the Tuatha also were 
doomed to defeat and extinction. The various races 
of the Nemedhians are believed to have been of Tu- 
ranian origin, and to have originally come from the 
interior of Africa. But now Ireland was invaded by 
a very different race of men. This last race was 
clearly of Aryan blood, akin to the other Ar 
Aryan races who swept over and occupied invasion of 
nearly the whole of Europe. The Nemedh- 
ians were probably small of stature, and dark of 
complexion. But the new race was comprised of 
men who were robust, tall, and fair. The particular 
branch of the Aryans which found its way to Ireland 
is variously named in history as "Gaels," "Mile- 



4 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

sians," and "Scots;" but the name by which they 
are most commonly known is that of the 

The "Celts." / 

" Celts. They invaded Ireland under 
the lead of the sons of Milesius, who had some time 
before been their chief. 

The Celts came, some across the Irish Sea from 
Britain, but mostly from the shores of Spain, and 
are believed to have been the descendants of Phoe- 
nicians who had established themselves in those 
lands. They found it no easy task to overcome the 
Tuatha, who clung obstinately to their island realm. 
The Tuatha put forth all their power of sorcery to 
Legends of repel and destroy the invaders. They 
the Tuatha. enveloped the Celtic ships in dense fogs, 
the legends say ; they raised terrific storms to dash 
them on the rocks; they summoned "spirits from 
the vasty deep" to bring destruction upon them. 
But at last the Celtic hordes gained a foothold on 
the coast. Gradually they drove the valiant Tuatha 
into the gorges of the hills, and finally they obtained 
sway over the whole island. The two sons of Mile- 
sius, Heber and Heremon, divided their conquest 
between them. But in course of time Heber over- 
came Heremon, and assumed the sole sovereignty. 

For a very long period the Tuatha continued to 
harass the new masters of Ireland. But after a while 
they became absorbed, and lost their distinctive 
Triumph of traits ; and the dominion of the Celts be- 
the celts. came complete. The Celtic was the fifth 
and last successful invasion of Ireland, according to 



IRISH LEGENDS. 5 

the ancient traditions. They became the prevailing 
race in the island for all time. It was they who 
formed the character of the Irish as a people, as they 
have always been since. The Irish of to-day are 
overwhelmingly Celtic in blood. Their language, 
customs, and traditions are to be traced to a Celtic 
origin. The Celts not only absorbed the Tuatha, 
and the remains of previous races, but 'they later 
absorbed the races which from time to time gained 
some foothold on the island ; just as, in England, the 
Saxons first replaced the Britons, and then absorbed 
in turn the Danes and the Normans. 

How long the Celts had populated Ireland before 
authentic history begins, there is no means of know- 
ing. The legends tell of one hundred and The Celtic 
eighteen kings, ruling in succession over kings - 
their turbulent people, and engaging in frequent 
conflicts to maintain themselves ; of rebellions of 
royal sons against their fathers ; of a queen named 
Meave, who was the daughter of a fairy, and who 
lived a hundred years, and was continually waging 
bloody wars ; of the fair Deirdri, who, by Celtic tradi- 
her beauty, brought many woes upon tlons - 
Erin ; of the fierce race of Feni and their chief, 
Finn, surrounded by his shaggy warriors, his bards 
and poets, his clowns and champions ; of invasions 
by Norman sea-rovers, who were driven back by the 
valiant Irish ; of the loves and treacheries of princes, 
the magic spells of sorcerers, and the terrible feuds 
and revenges of rival chiefs. 



6 YOUNG TEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Whatever credit may be given to these legendary 
tales, it seems certain that, before the time of Christ, 
Ireland had good harbors, traded with the busy ports 
of the Mediterranean, and was the home of a people 
brave and not wholly barbarous. The Irish, with 
little doubt, were strong enough at times to attack 
the Roman strongholds in Britain and in Gaul. The 
Romans, on the other hand, never attempted the con- 
quest of Ireland ; nor was Ireland ever conquered, 
after its settlement by the Celts, until, many centu- 
ries after that settlement, it was subdued by English 
arms. 



Till': ANCIENT IRISH. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE ANCIENT IRISH. 

TT J"E can only guess, from the dim legends which 
» V have been described, what may have been the 
character, institutions, and customs of the successive 
races who preceded the Celts in the occupation of 
Ireland. But we do know what many of the insti- 
tutions and customs of the Celts were, at the time 
that authentic history finds them in possession of 
the island. Over all the people was set The"arch- 
the "arch-king," whom they called the kin s-" 
"Ard-Righ." The successor of this arch-king was 
chosen by the people during the arch-king's lifetime, 
and was called the "roydamna." The roydamna was 
selected from the arch-king's family, and was usually, 
though by no means always, his eldest son. There 
were several causes for which a prince might be 
excluded from the throne. One of these was physi- 
cal deformity. A prince who had lost a hand, who 
was blind, or hump-backed, 'could not succeed to the 
crown. If, after his accession, the arch-king became 
in any way deformed, he was deposed. 

Under the arch-king were a number of princes or 



8 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

chiefs, who divided the government of the various 
Early Irish parts of the island between them. These 
chiefs. were called "righ," or "kings." Their 

successors, like those of the arch-kings, v/ere elected 
by the people from their families, and were called 
" tanists." One and all of these "righ" were sub- 
ject to the arch-king's authority. The provinces 
ruled over by the righ were again sub-divided into 
tribes or clans, which the Irish called "septs." 
Each sept comprised a group of families, 
living in the same neighborhood ; and each 
sept had its popularly elected chief. So, too, each 
family included in the sept had its chief or head, who 
owed allegiance to the chief of the sept. Under 
him, however, the head of the family had absolute 
power over its several members. Each tribe had its 
established domain, which its members cultivated, 
and upon which it dwelt. This domain was divided 
up, and its various portions were devoted to certain 
purposes. A part of it was used by all the members 
of the tribe in common, who cultivated it, pastured 
their horses, pigs, sheep, and cows upon it, and took 
their fuel from it. Another part served for the 
The tribal habitations of the tribe, and yet a third 
domain. p art was p rov ided for the use or pleasure 

of the chief. A portion of the tribal domain, more- 
over, was occupied by nobles, who had secured it by 
their prowess, or by services to the tribe or king. 

There was no such thing among the ancient Irish 
as a law of primogeniture ; that is, a law, such as 



THE ANCIENT IRISH. 9 

long prevailed among the English, which provided 
that the eldest son of a family should inherit all the 
lands of his father. When an Irishman died, all his 
sons took an equal share of the lands he left. This 
was called the custom of "gavelkind." If 

r . . Gavelkind. 

a family became extinct, its lands were 
taken by the tribe, and redivided. But little cultivat- 
ing of the land was done by the ancient Irish. Their 
main source of support was cattle ; and, among cat- 
tle, cows were raised to the largest extent. Indeed, 
the cow played a curious part in the laws and busi- 
ness relations of the Irish. If a man was fined for 
breaking the laws, he was condemned to pay over so 
many cows. Land, too, was measured ac- cows as cur- 
cording to its capacity to feed a greater or rencv - 
less number of cows. The Irish also raised a great 
many pigs, and some horses and sheep. 

The ancient Irish usually dwelt in small clusters 
of dwellings, which were commonly built either upon 
the islands of the lakes, or upon hills. Around the 
settlement was erected a thick wall of earth and 
stone, for purposes of defence ; and a fort was also 
constructed in the centre of the settlement, in which 
the chief of the sept lived. Sometimes these de- 
fences were of great strength, the walls being twelve 
or fourteen feet thick. The huts theme The Irish 
selves were built of wood or wattles, fifteen huts - 
or twenty feet long ; while the chiefs had much 
larger dwellings, some of which were built with 
no little skill and knowledge of architecture. The 



IO YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

ancient Irish appear to have had a rude system of 
writing, by making" notches in wood, and sometimes 
in stone. At a very early period, too, they sent their 
native ores, and sold slaves, to the seaport towns of 
, . . , .„ . the Mediterranean. They are also known 

Irish skill in J 

mechanic to have had much skill in the making of 
weapons, and in the working of precious 
metals. These arts they perhaps derived from their 
Phoenician ancestors. 

Some of the laws of the ancient Irish have hap- 
pily come down to us, and present a curious view 
of their ideas and customs. They do not seem 
to have made any clear distinction between what we 
call crimes, and what we look upon merely as civil 
Ancient Irish injuries. Whether a man committed a 
laws. theft, or an assault, or only a trespass upon 

land, his punishment was a fine, to be paid in cows. 
If the criminal could not pay his fine, it was paid by 
his family; and, when this was the case, the criminal 
lost his civil rights, and his share in the common 
land. Fines were imposed for injuries to women, 
theft, murder, receiving stolen goods, and swindling, 
which we call crimes ; and also for trespass, slander, 
negligence, and the failure to pay debts, which we 
regard, less seriously, as civil wrongs. In one re- 
spect, the ancient Irish laws were much in advance 
of those of most primitive peoples. The husband 
Husband and wife were put on a footing of perfect 
and wife. equality as to their rights in the land. 
The wife had as much to say, in the disposal of 



THE ANCIENT IRISH. II 

the land, as her husband. The old Irish laws, more- 
over, commanded the people to receive hospitably all 
comers. They also made rules as to the clothing 
which each social rank should wear. 

The religion of the ancient Irish, like that of the 
ancient Britons and Gauls, was that known to us as 
Druidism, and was no doubt derived from the East. 
The priests of this religion were called Druids, and 
the worship of fire was one of its main 

' The Druids. 

features. The Druids were "priests of the 
sun." There is some reason to believe that, in the 
groves where they conducted the rites of their faith, 
they were in the habit of offering up sacrifices of 
men and women, on great stone altars erected for 
the purpose. The chief god was Crom, who was 
called the god of fire. There were also other gods, 
who were the special deities of the bards, the cham- 
pions, the sailors, and the workers in metal. Groves 
were dedicated to the worship of these gods, which 
was conducted in the open air. As for the Druids 
themselves, both the priests and the priestesses, they 
were held sacred, and revered above all others among 
the ancient Irish. On all public occasions, they held 
the place of honor near the king. They Honors to 
consecrated the weapons of the warriors ; the Druids - 
they dictated whether there should be peace or war ; 
the best products of the earth, and of the artificers, 
were devoted to their use. 

All the principal officers of the Irish realm were 
chosen from among the Druids. The chief of these 



12 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

officers were the priests, who served at the altars ; 
the Brehons, who were men of learning, and by their 
wisdom settled all quarrels and disputes, and inter- 
The Brehons preted and executed the laws; and the 
and Bards. Bards, whose task it was to write the his- 
tories of events, and to sing the exploits of princes. 
Below these three higher officers, were the royal doc- 
tors, stewards, knights or champions, and the armor- 
ers. The farmers were an inferior rank ; and the 
millers, weavers, shepherds, and farm-laborers were, 
for the most part, slaves, who had been captured in 
war, or had been bought from the Britons. In vari- 
ous parts of Ireland are to be seen strange round 
towers, the origin and use of which can only be con- 
The round jectured. It is believed by some writers 
towers. tnat th e y were erected by the Druids. 

Others think that they were built by petty chiefs of 
clans, who formed a special rank, or caste, among the 
early Irish. 

It was in ancient times, too, — though how ancient, 
no one knows, — that Ireland was divided into the 
four great provinces which still retain their bounda- 
ries and names. Indeed, there was of old, in eastern 
Ireland, a fifth province, called Meath. This prov- 
ince was the domain of the arch-king, where he 
The royal had his residence and held his court. Its 
domain. people were free from all taxation except 

such as was imposed by the sovereign. It held a sort 
of neutral position among the other provinces, and 
was endowed with special privileges. Its territory 



THE ANCIENT IRISH. 1 3 

is now included in the two counties of Meath and 
Westmeath. The four other provinces — Ulster, 
Leinstcr, Connaught, and Munster — had, geographi- 
cally, very much the same boundaries that they have 
to-day. Such, in brief, was the pagan Ireland, which, 
in the first half of the fifth century, the famous St. 
Patrick came to win from its idolatries, and convert 
to Christianity. 



14 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



CHAPTER III. 

SAIXT PATRICK. 

SAINT PATRICK is the first great and distinct 
figure in the authentic history of Ireland. The 
story of his life is interesting ; and the results of the 
good work that he did, in bringing the entire Irish 
people within the civilizing fold of Christianity, re- 
mained for ages after he himself had been laid in the 
st. Patrick in grave. Patrick was a Gaul, and was born 
Gaui. anc | brought up in the seaside town which 

we now call Boulogne, in France. There he was 
born, probably at the beginning of the fifth century 
(400). His father was a well-to-do citizen, and Pat- 
rick was no doubt fairly educated in his boyhood. But 
'when he was sixteen years old, his country was in- 
vaded by the warlike Irish king Nial. Patrick him- 
self was captured, carried over to Ireland, and, as 
befell all prisoners of war in those rude days, was sold 
into slavery. His master was a great Irish chief 
st. Patrick a named Milcho, in the county of Antrim, 
slave. During the seven years that he was a slave, 

Patrick tended his master's sheep on the Antrim 
hills. 



SAINT PATRICK. I 5 

When Patrick was twenty-three, he succeeded in 
making his escape. He ran away, hid himself in a 
vessel, and thus got safely back to Gaul. He now 
became a Christian priest, and was soon known for 
the fervor with which he performed the duties of his 
sacred office. He resided for a while at Tours, and 
then repaired to Rome, where he rose high Life at 
in favor at the Papal court. All the while, Rome - 
his mind was filled with thoughts of the pagan land 
where he had spent his youth in servitude. He re- 
membered with horror the hideous rites of which he 
had been a witness, — the cruel human sacrifices, the 
idolatrous worship of the sun and of fire, the severity 
of the rule of the Druids, and the ignorance and 
abasement of the people. His heart longed to raise 
them out of their degraded condition, and to bring 
them into the light of the Christian faith. As he 
dwelt continually upon these thoughts, he began to 
be visited by strange dreams, and then by start- 
ling visions. It seemed to him as if God were thus 
commanding him to leave his work in Rome, to go 
and convert the Irish. 

At last he had a vision which decided him. He 
thought that an angel came to him in his dreams, 
holding a scroll on which was plainly writ- st Patrick 
ten, "The voice of the Irish." At the goes to 
same time, he seemed to hear the wailing 
and groans of the benighted people. Despite all the 
dangers which threatened him, Patrick finally resolved 
to go and preach in the land of his former captivity. 



l6 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

He made known his resolution to Pope Celestine, 
who gave him authority to convert the Irish. More 
than twenty years had elapsed since his escape from 
slavery. Patrick was now a middle-aged man, robust 
of frame, brave of heart, and fervid of spirit. It is 
not known in what year he arrived, with a few fellow- 
priests, off the Irish coast ; but it is certain that it 
was in the first half of the fifth century. He at- 
tempted to land on the shores of Wicklow, on the 
eastern coast, south of the spot where Dublin now 
stands. But the fierce Irish had heard of his coming, 
and assailed his vessel from the shore with a storm 
of missiles. 

He then sailed northward, and succeeded in land- 
ing on the coast of Antrim, the county in which he 
st Patrick nac ^ ^ vec ^ as a slave. With his little group 
lands in of missionaries, Patrick began his preach- 

ing at a place called Saul. He held his 
meetings in a barn, where he caused a rude altar to 
be erected, and where he exhorted the natives who 
could be induced to enter, to abandon Druidism and 
embrace Christianity. But Patrick's zeal outstripped 
the first results of his mission. He was impatient to 
make conversions on a wider field, and on a larger 
scale. So he bravely resolved to appear before the 
arch-king Leoghaire himself, surrounded though he 
might be by his warriors and priests. So sure was 
Patrick of the truth of his teaching, and so ardent 
was he in its cause, that he did not despair of suc- 
cess, even in such a presence. 



SAINT PATRICK. I J 

It happened that the arch-king was about to hold 
a joyous festival in honor of his birthday, on the 
royal hill of Tara. There would be a vast gathering 
of princes, champions, priests, and bards T he feast on 
from every part of the island ; and the Tara - 
historic hill would swarm with the fierce soldiery of 
the barbaric court. • There would be solemn religious 
rites, attended by ghastly human sacrifices. This 
celebration was to take place, Patrick learned, on the 
day before Easter. Inspired by a bold resolve, Pat- 
rick bade adieu to his little flock at Saul, embarked 
on his ship, and landed at the mouth of the Boyne. 
From thence he proceeded directly across the great 
plain that spreads out between the Boyne and the 
hill of Tara. He was only attended by a few Irish- 
men, whom he had recently converted. He staid 
cue night at the house of a kindly chief, whom, with 
all his family, Patrick persuaded to accept the Chris- 
tian faith. On the third day of his journey, the 
Saint beheld, in the distance, the edifices and lofty 
trees which crowned the royal eminence. Above 
them all rose the king's palace and his banqueting- 
hall, now decorated for the birthday festival. 

But no fires were lit on the massive Druid altars 
on the hill, nor anywhere in the country roundabout. 
For the arch-priest had ordained that, at s Patrick 
a given moment, they should all be lit in before the 
honor of the monarch. Patrick, however, 
deliberately disobeyed this command. He lit his 
fire before his camp, on the slope opposite Tara. 



l8 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

No sooner did the pagan hosts perceive what they 
regarded as an act of audacious treason and sacrilege, 
than they rushed over to Patrick's camp, seized him 
and his companions, and dragged them into the pres- 
ence of the arch-king and his courtiers and priests, 
who were gathered in a large open space. Patrick re- 
mained undaunted in the midst of his angry enemies. 
One of the chiefs, acting according to the polite cus- 
tom of the Irish, offered him a seat ; and he sat down. 
Then he was commanded to say why he had commit- 
ted such an outrage against the religion of the land. 
Patrick felt that his opportunity had come. In- 
spired rather than frightened by the scene, by the 
historic spot on which he stood, and by the multitude 
of fierce and glowering faces which surrounded him, 
st Patrick ne nervec l himself for a supreme effort of 
preaches to eloquence. He spent but a few words in 
justifying his act of lighting the fire. 
Soon, he was boldly showing the barbaric concourse 
the cruelty, the falsity, and the absurdity of their 
faith. They listened in spellbound wonder. Then, 
with all the fervor of his soul, he told them the story 
of Christ ; of his miracles ; the wise, good, humane, 
lessons which he taught ; and the church which he 
had founded on the earth. Rude as were the spirits 
he addressed, the minds and hearts of many of them 
were touched by his glowing words. Their wrath 
subsided. They looked at each other, and murmured. 
When Patrick had finished, a hubbub of confused 
voices arose. 



SAINT PATRICK. 10. 

Forthwith nobles, priests, and warriors began to 
argue eagerly with each other. Some boldly took 
the part of the Christian ; others hotly opposed him ; 
many wavered in their faith. Then a _ 

J Conversions 

Wonderful thing happened. The daugh- to cnris- 
ters of the arch-king Leoghaire declared tianity - 
themselves converted. Several great princes and 
chiefs followed their example. At last, the arch- 
Druid himself, the head of the entire pagan church 
of Ireland, embraced the new faith. Patrick has- 
tened to baptize his new converts ; and presently 
great numbers of the chief men of Ireland, includ- 
ing many Druid priests, came to the baptism, and 
were thus received into the Christian church. The 
arch-king, though he did not receive Christianity, 
shielded Patrick from violence, put him Patrick 
under his own protection, and assigned held m 
the Saint the castle of Trim, not far dis- 
tant from Tara, as his residence. Thither Patrick 
repaired, to continue without ceasing the great and 
good work which he had undertaken, and which had 
been so auspiciously begun. 

It is no wonder that Druidism, with its long hold 
upon the Irish, dfed hard. For many years, Patrick's 
struggles against it were bitter and constant. Plots 
were concocted by Druid priests to murder him as 
he journeyed in lonely places. The priests denounced 
him from their altars, and made sport of his actions. 
The bards took up the cause of the old faith, and 
poured out songs of indignation. Some of the chiefs 



20 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

forbade him their territories. But Patrick gradually 
won over a host of ardent Irish disciples. His con- 
verts constantly increased ; and his influence spread 
from Tara to Armagh in the north, and to Cashel in 
the south. Then the Druids sought refuge in the 
forests, and in the islands off the coast, where they 
could still perform their pagan rites unmolested. As 
_. .. fast as he had converted a district, Patrick 

Christian 

missions in established missions in it, caused monas- 
teries to be erected, and left native priests 
to conduct the church services, and to continue his 
work. He himself went continually from place to 
place, visiting these missions ; and in the later years 
of his life, although he usually journeyed on foot, 
he was attended by a numerous retinue. In this 
retinue were bell-ringers, chamberlains, cooks, work- 
ers in metals, brewers, smiths, and embroiderers, as 
well as priests and monks. 

Patrick did not lay violent hands on the ancient 
customs of the Irish. So far as he could consist- 
ently with his sacred mission, he left the traditions 
of the people untouched. He kept the pagan holi- 
changes m days as Christian holidays. Rut he re- 
ireiand. formed the old laws, making them more 

enlightened and humane, and removing from them 
every thing which recognized or protected the Druid 
faith. He led the Irish gently, and by gradual steps, 
to a higher social as well as religious state. , Patrick 
undoubtedly lived to a very advanced age. He was 
probably over ninety, when, in the monastery of 



SAINT PATRICK. 21 

Saul, erected on the very spot where the old barn 
in which he had first preached in Ireland stood, he 
quietly passed away. He had done a vast and noble 
work. ; and his last hours were gladdened with a holy 
joy, at the thought that he had led a whole nation 
into the Christian fold. He was laid, with all pomp 
and reverence, in the church at Armagh, and has 
ever since been revered by the Irish as their great 
apostle. To this day they celebrate the supposed 
anniversary of his death as their principal national 
holiday. 



22 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 

THE good work of St. Patrick was vigorously 
continued, after his death, by his disciples and 
successors. In the course of time Ireland was 
Progress of dotted with churches, monasteries, and 
Christianity. sc ] 100 i s _ Pieces of land were set apart 
by the various tribes for the maintenance of the 
religious establishments ; and this land remained in 
their possession. The abbot of a monastery became 
a sort of lord of the manor, to whom his tenants 
owed fealty; and, as in the case of the chiefs of 
tribes, the successor of the abbot, who was called 
the "co-arb," was chosen, during the abbot's life- 
time, by the monks and the men of the tribe. Each 
monastery had attached to it, moreover, a number of 
smaller missions, scattered here and there, over which 
it had control, and which paid tribute to it 

The bishops. 

for its support. Bishops, moreover, were 
set over the different sees. For a long time, how- 
ever, the bishops were inferior in authority to the 
abbots of the monasteries. 

For two centuries after the death of St. Patrick, the 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 23 

piety and learning of Ireland were renowned through- 
out Europe. The Irish monks went forth into Britain, 
Gaul, and Germany, to convert the heathen of those 
countries. Ireland came to be known everywhere 
as "the Isle of Saints." The monks founded 
monasteries and schools wherever they went. They 
preached before the great Charlemagne, and were 
celebrated, even in Rome itself, for their scholarship 
no less than for their religious fervor. There 
was a long period, indeed, when Ireland was the 
foremost nation in Europe, in learning and religious 
teaching ; when, from all parts of Europe, students 
flocked in hundreds to fill her schools to overflowing, 
and to learn theology and the arts in her monasteries 
and convents. As early as in the sixth century, 
there were famous schools at Armagh and colleges and 
Belfast, at Clonard and Wexford, at Mun- schools - 
gret and Mayo. At some of these schools were 
gathered, at times, as many as five or six thousand 
students. The students, too, were of many races, — 
Saxons, Gauls, Picts, and Franks, as well as Irish. 

These great schools were, for the most part, free 
to all ; not only free in their instruction, but free in 
giving board and lodging to the students. The 
tribes granted them lands, rights of fishery, and mill 
privileges ; and they were allowed to cut as much 
wood for timber and fuel as they needed. c t f 

J Support of 

The monks went about the country ask- educational 

f r l 1 1 • 1 t .1 institutions. 

ing tor funds by which to support the 

schools ; and often princes, nobles, and large-hearted 



24 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

rich women gave them generous endowments. The 
edifices of the great schools were built in blocks, 
and formed the streets of a special quarter of the 
town in which they were situated. They were gener- 
ally erected on the banks of a river or a lake, and 
were, for the most part, wooden buildings with shin- 
gle roofs, and were spacious in size. The students 
went forth from these schools, to spread learning 
and the Christian faith through the most benighted 
regions of northern and western Europe, and to es- 
tablish the fame of Ireland as the intellectual centre 
of the world. 

The studies pursued at these schools give a strik- 
ing idea of the height to which Irish scholarship had 
The Irish attained while Britain was still in a state 
students. £ a i m0 st barbaric ignorance. The Irish 
students were taught not only their own tongue and 
Latin, which was, as it still is, the language of the 
church ; but they also learned Greek, Hebrew, and 
the writings of the Greek and Christian philosophers. 
They studied physics, mathematics, and poetry, and 
were ^carefully practised in music. Neither paper 
nor printing had been invented ; and the books used 
in the Irish schools were all written by monkish 
hands on vellum, or parchment. But few such books 
could have been possessed by the schools. It is 
probable that the teachers read from them, and ex- 
pounded the text by lectures. By far the greater 
number of the students were educated to enter 
the priesthood ; so that a deep religious spirit 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 25 

pervaded the studies, habits, and influences of the 
schools. 

At the same time, scholarship, science, and the 
arts, as well as religion, were ardently pursued in the 
tranquil cells and cloisters of the many monasteries 
which were now thickly scattered through Ireland. 
The monks, besides pursuing their religious vigils, 
did a great deal of worldly work. They tilled the 
fertile lands attached to the monasteries ; they tended 
their cows, sheep, and pigs ; they acted as The labor of 
scribes for those who could not write ; they the monks - 
worked in wood and in the metals. They made with 
their own hands the various ornaments which adorned 
the sanctuaries, and wrote and illuminated the missals 
used in pious services. They were skilful in archi- 
tecture, built their own edifices and churches, and 
devoted themselves with special ardor to music. 
It is an ancient Irish proverb, that " it is a poor 
church that has no music." The Irish churches, 
even in that distant age, were famous for their well- 
drilled choirs, their stirring hymns, and their instru- 
mental as well as vocal harmonies. 

Ireland produced in the sixth and seventh centu- 
ries a multitude of holy men, who received the name 
of " saints," and were renowned through i riS h 
Europe for their piety and learning. They 
had a great influence over the public affairs, not only 
of Ireland, but of other countries. They sometimes 
founded Irish and Christian colonies on foreign soil. 
The most notable instance of this, perhaps, was 



mis- 
sionaries. 



26 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

the founding of an Irish colony on the island of 
Iona, off the western coast of Scotland. There is 
little doubt that many of the people of the Scottish 
Highlands were descended from Irish colonists, who 
had established themselves in that country long be- 
fore St. Patrick's time. There are traces, indeed, of 
invasions of Irish invasions of Scotland, as far back as 
Scotland. t j ie m iddle of the third century. A large 
and prosperous Irish settlement had been made at 
the beginning of the sixth century (503), in Argyle, 
Rosshire, and Perth. But the first systematic at- 
tempt to bring about the conversion of the Scottish 
pagans, was that made in the middle of the sixth 
century by the famous St. Columbkill, who founded 
the colony on the island of Iona (565). 

Next to St. Patrick himself, Columbkill was the 

most conspicuous Irish figure in those early centuries. 

He was of royal blood, a bishop of the 

Columbkill. ."' J 

church, and an accomplished scholar. His 
temper was sweet and saint-like. He had, moreover, 
a burning religious zeal, rare courage, poetic talent, 
and a gift of glowing eloquence. With twelve priests, 
he repaired to Iona, and built a large monastery. He 
then set out upon his task of conversion. Columb- 
kill went among the barbarous people in the islands 
of the Hebrides and the Orkneys, through the 
mountains of Argyle into northern Britain, and even 
conversion to the southernmost parts of the island, 
of the scots, pjjg success during his long mission of 
thirty-one years was wonderful. The Pict king was 




Death of Columbkill. — Page 27. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 2"] 

baptized by him, and the lesser Scottish sovereigns 
received his benediction when they assumed their 
sceptres. 

Columbkill's fame and influence thus spread far 
and wide. His disciples were called "the servants 
of God." In order that the monks of Iona might 
pursue their studies and writing of books in entire 
seclusion, Columbkill made a law that neither any 
woman nor any cow should be allowed on coiumbkiii 
the island ; "for," he said, "where there is at Iona - 
a cow, there will be a woman ; and, wherever there is 
a woman, there will be mischief." Columbkill more 
than once interposed, with his wisdom and his author- 
ity, in the affairs of Ireland. He defended the bards, 
whom one of the kings wished to suppress ; he suc- 
cessfully opposed the taxation of his Iona colony ; 
and the Irish priesthood often resorted to him for 
counsel. Columbkill was over eighty years old when 
he died. When he rose on the Sunday morning of 
his death, he said to one of his disciples, cheerfully, 
" This day is called the day of rest ; and such will it 
be for me, for it will finish my labors." A few hours 
later, he had quietly passed away. It is said that 
death came to him as he sat writing some pious 
sayings on vellum (596). 



28 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



CHAPTER V. 

EARLY IRISH KINGS. 

IT has already been stated that Ireland, at an early 
period, was divided into four great provinces, 
Provinces of which we now know as Ulster, Leinster, 
Ireland. Minister, and Connaught. The royal do- 

main of Meath, moreover, was set apart from these, 
serving as the residence and appanage of the arch- 
king, or sovereign, of all Ireland. Each of the four 
great provinces was occupied by a separate tribe, 
and each tribe was ruled by a king of ancient and 
powerful family. The reigning family of Ulster 

. . . were the O'Neils ; of Leinster, the Mac- 

Ancient ' 

Irish fami- murroughs ; of Minister, the O'Briens, 
alternating with the McCarthys ; and of 
Connaught, the O'Connors. All of these names are 
• still very common in Ireland. For several centuries 
the O'Neils of Ulster wore the arch-regal crown, 
and held sway over the entire island. Besides these 
arch-kings and kings, there were in Ireland a multi- 
tude of lesser rulers, who divided the various prov- 
inces. Among the most noted of these lesser chiefs 
were the O'Donnels, O'Kanes, O'Haras, O'Doghertys, 



EARLY IRISH KINGS. 2Q 

O'Rourkes, O'Kellys, O'Reillys, O'Malleys, O'Dowds, 
O'Sullivans, and O'Donoghues, — names which we 
still often hear. 

While the various provinces and tribes were thus 
governed by chiefs of the same families, the custom 
of electing them long continued. A ma- Election of 
jority of two-thirds was required to com- chiefs - 
plete the choice of a king or chief; but it came to 
be more and more the case, that he was chosen from 
the same family or clan as that of those who had 
preceded him. The kings were always crowned with 
much solemnity. The ceremony usually took place 
on the summit of a high hill. A white wand was 
given to the new monarch, who was attired in his 
royal robes, and who took an oath to rule wisely and 
well. Afterwards he was consecrated in a church, 
with imposing religious rites. Some of the festivals 
of the Irish kings, too, were attended by many 
ancient and hallowed customs. Especially was the 
festival which took place on the ist of November 
noted for its ceremonies and general observance. 

Gradually the laws introduced by St. Patrick were 
adopted by the arch-regal court, and the courts of 
the four provinces. These laws still en- changes in 
forced the principle of electing the kings Irish laws - 
and chiefs, but ordained that those chosen must be 
of noble descent. The kings and chiefs were still 
bound to each other by the ancient Druidic customs. 
Fines, taxes, and other payments continued to be 
estimated, not in money, but in cattle, sheep, horses, 



30 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

slaves, coats of armor, chess-boards, drinking-cups, 
and other articles in common or frequent use. The 
Tributes and quantity of these things which was owed 
fines. ky t j ie tribesmen to their chief, or by the 

chief to the king, was exactly fixed in each case by 
the laws. The laws, moreover, minutely described 
what privileges and powers each ruler might enjoy, 
and what he was prohibited from doing or receiving. 
Some of these privileges and restrictions are amus- 
ing. For instance, it was ordained that the arch- 
king must never, on any account, lie abed till the 
sun rose. On the other hand, it was laid down, that 
on a certain day, — the ist of August, — the arch- 
king might eat fish from the Boyne, fruit from the 
Isle of Man, and venison from Naas. 

The kings of the provinces, in like manner, had 
curious rights, and were forbidden to do certain 

D . _ , things. The king of Leinster, for exam- 
Rights of & o ' 

kings and pie, was expressly enjoined not to permit 
any Druidic ceremony to take place in his 
territories. To him, on the other hand, was granted 
the right to partake of the ale of Cuilen, and to pre- 
side over certain ancient games. The king of Munster 
could not gather his warriors on the confines of 
Leinster ; but he had the privilege of dwelling, dur- 
ing Lent, at Cashel, without cost to himself. The 
monarch of Ulster was warned not to drink from a 
certain fountain, nor to take heed of omens. His 
privileges were to preside over the festivities of 
Coolcy, to drill his troops on the plains of Louth, 



EARLY IRISH KINGS. 3 1 

and to quarter his soldiers for three nights in Armagh. 
If a king or prince adhered to the Druidic faith or 
practices, his tenants were relieved from paying rent 
to him, and his debtors were released from their 
debts to him. 

The reigns of the early Irish monarchs were 
marked by many convulsions, by frequent struggles 
for supremacy, and now and then by assas- convulsions 
sinations. A long time elapsed after St. in Ireland - 
Patrick's death before the arch-kings themselves 
became Christian. Lewy, the son of Leoghaire, is 
related to have been struck by lightning because of 
his adherence to the Druidic faith ; and, sixty years 
later, Dermic!, who still fostered the Druid priests, 
and who caused an accused man to be seized on the 
altar of a Christian church, was solemnly cursed by 
a Christian bishop, who also pronounced condemna- 
tion on him on the hill of Tara (554). No Irish king, 
it is said, afterwards made Tara his place of abode. 
The successors of Dermic! lived at Tail- 

Dermid. 

teen, and on the borders of Lake Ennell. 
Dermid himself was slain, soon after the bishop's 
anathema against him, in a furious battle with the 
king of Ulster. 

Among the reigns which intervened between that 
of Dermid and the period of the invasion of the 
Danes (556-794), some are conspicuous Hugh the 
for the important and thrilling events Second - 
which took place within their span. Such was the 
reign of Hugh the Second, who sat upon the Irish 



32 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

throne for the long period of twenty-seven years. 
It was in this monarch's time that Columbkill estab- 
lished his colony on the Scottish isle of Iona, and 
that the attempt was made to suppress the ancient 
rank and power of the bards. King Hugh failed, 
indeed, to get rid of the bards, but succeeded in 
restricting many of their old-time privileges. They 
were forbidden to wander about the country, singing 
and reciting their poems, or to have companies of 
servants. Hugh also attempted, in vain, to impose 
taxes on the colony of Iona. It was during his reign 
that the Christian priesthood rose to a great height 
of power in Ireland. 

A number of brief reigns followed the death of 

Hugh the Second. In that of Donald the Second 

(624-640), the final struggle took place 

Successors v ~ ■ '* o& sr 

of Hugh the between Druidism and Christianity. A 
pretender, Congal, prince of Ulidia, rose to 
contest the crown of Ulster. Congal rallied under 
his banners the forces of Druidism in the North, 
and his cause became that of the ancient religion. 
He had also as allies numerous bands of Saxons, 
Scots, and Britons, who crossed the Irish Sea to join 
him. King Donald gathered his sturdy tribesmen, 
and went in person to encounter his foe. The royal 
banners bore upon them the ancient symbols of Irish 
sovereignty, — red hands and crosses, axes, eagles, 
and lions. Above the rebel prince floated the bright 
standard of the Red Branch Knights, displaying 
a yellow lion on a field of green satin. The rival 



EARLY IRISH KINGS. 33 

hosts came into fierce collision on the broad plain of 
Moira. Donald and the Christian cause The Battle 
were completely victorious. Congal was of Moira - 
killed in the battle, his forces were put to flight, 
and the triumphant king established his power beyond 
dispute. The battle of Moira was the death-struggle 
of Druidism in Ireland (6iy). 

After the death of the brave Donald, two brothers, 
Connall and Kellach, reigned jointly over Ireland ; 
and they, in turn, were succeeded by two brothers, 
Dermid and Blathmac, who also shared between them 
the government of the kingdom. The latter were 
earnest Christians, and ruled wisely and well. In 
their time the yellow plague ravaged Ireland, and 
was finally fatal to the two kings themselves. The 
next reign of note was that of Finnacta, 

° . Finnacta. 

a monarch who was called the " Hospit- 
able." It was during his rule, that the Anglo-Sax- 
ons, who had long been settled in Britain, made their 
first formidable invasion of Ireland. Egfrid, king of 
Northumbria, sent an expedition under Boert, one 
of his earls, across the Irish Channel. Boert dis- 
embarked at the mouth of the Boyne, and spread 
havoc and desolation through the fertile fields of 
Meath. But the force he led was not sufficient to 
attempt a conquest of the island ; and so he retired, 
after seizing the cattle, burning the churches, and 
killing all the Irish who came in his way. 

During the greater part of the eighth century the 
career of the Irish kingdom was, for the most part, 



34 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

tranquil and uneventful. Of all the kings for a 
a peaceful hundred years, only three were killed in 
period. battle. Two of them, Flaherty and Nial 

the Second, gave up the burdens of sovereignty, and 
like the German emperor, Charles the Fifth, many 
centuries after, sought tranquillity in the cloisters of a 
monastery. Hugh the Fifth, who succeeded Flaherty, 
was not only an able warrior, but was a poet of no 
small merit. He was devoted to the church, and 
engaged in a fierce war with the prince of Ulidia, in 
defence of the rights of the bishop of Armagh. It 
was in the reign of Donald the Third, Hugh's suc- 
Reiigious cessor, that learning and religious fervor 
fervor. reached their greatest height in Ireland 

(750). The longest and most troublous reign of the 
eighth century was that of Donogh the First, whose 
rule lasted twenty-one years. The sovereignty of 
Meath was contested during that period by the family 
of O'Melaghlin, who were forced at last, however, to 
yield to Donogh's powers. It was in the last years 
of Donogh that the first invasion of Ireland by the 
Danes took place. 



THE INVASION OF THE DANES. 35 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE INVASION OF THE DANES. 

IRELAND had been for nearly three centuries the 
centre of the scholarship, piety, and Christian 
zeal in the world. She was now doomed to be over- 
run by a pagan race, and to submit for a long period 
to a barbarous foreign yoke. In the catastrophe, 
learning and Christianity were destined to almost 
disappear from the island, and were not to be re- 
vived until after many desperate conflicts. In the 
course of time, the condition of the Irish condition of 
had been gradually changing. Tribal cus- the lnsh 
toms had begun to disappear. The lands which had 
once been used by the tribes in common, were becom- 
ing absorbed by the chiefs and barons ; and the quar- 
rels between the chiefs resulted, here and there, in 
the conquest of domains which became the property 
of the victors. It was the dissensions and rival 
ambitions which grew up among the chiefs, which 
opened to the Danes the way to descend upon the 
Irish coast, to carry rapine and murder into the inte- 
rior, and finally to subjugate the island to their 
savaere rule. 



36 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

The Danes were a race of hardy, ferocious sea- 
warriors, who came, not only from Denmark (whence 
they derived their name), but also from 

The Danes. 

Norway and Friesland. For many centu- 
ries they had roved the seas, bent on errands of 
plunder and conquest. They were very skilful navi- 
gators, and were unequalled in their warlike courage. 
Their kinsmen had defeated the legions of Roman 
emperors, and had sacked and burned Rome itself. 
Everywhere along the coasts of Northern Europe 
the coming of the Danes was intensely dreaded. 
No race could cope with their great, strong ships on 
the ocean : few could withstand their hot valor on the 
field of battle. But Ireland had for centuries es- 
caped the scourge of their attack. Already Britain 
invasion of had long been assailed by the fleets of the 
England. Danish' vikings, while the fields and vil- 
lages along her shores had been devastated by the 
Danish pirates. Two centuries were yet to elapse, 
however, before a Danish king would sit upon the 
. , , British throne. The first invasion of Ire- 

Ireland as- 
sailed by the land by these ferocious sea-rovers took 

place towards the close of the eighth cen- 
tury. At first, they came with their big ships at rare 
intervals, landing at various points on the eastern 
coast, building forts, ravaging the country round- 
about, and then departing. But in course of time 
the Danes and their kinsmen, the Norwegians, found 
out the dissensions which existed between the Irish 
rulers, and perceived that Ireland, given over to 



THE INVASION OF THE DANES. 37 

piety and learning", had neglected the arts of war. 
Then they flocked across the sea in greater num- 
bers, and with greater frequency. They seized upon 
Dublin and Wexford on the east, Cork on n 

Danish suc- 

the south, and Down on the north. They cesses on the 
then began to make and fortify settlements, 
from whence they issued to spread rapine and mas- 
sacre among the peaceful villages and the quiet 
monasteries of the interior. The Danes were re- 
solved to conquer the island and to extirpate its 
people, and to themselves enjoy its fair domain. 

The Danes were pagans, like the Saxons who had 
subjugated Britain. They believed in the gods Odin 
and Thor, and the goddess Friga ; and to these they 
offered barbarous sacrifices. Their faith Religion of 
was warlike, bloody, and revengeful. the Danes - 
Above all things the Danes detested and despised 
Christianity, which they looked upon as a religion 
rival to their own, and one, entirely unlike their own, 
of peace and brotherhood. When, therefore, they 
found themselves in Ireland, the first objects of their 
attack were the sacred places of Irish piety. With 
fierce and rapacious ardor they assailed, sacked, and 
burned the churches and monasteries. They de- 
stroyed the precious books, which had been written 
with such long and patient care by the monks. They 
seized the ornaments, the jewelled plate Danish 
and symbols, the rich clothes and golden barba " ties - 
chalices which adorned the Christian sanctuaries and 
the shrines of the Irish saints. They scattered the 



38 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

bones and relics of the saints to the winds. Without 
mercy, they murdered bishops and priests wherever 
they could find them. They broke up the colleges 
and schools, driving the students into exile, and raz- 
ing to the ground the edifices within which so many 
thousands had found a scholastic retreat. 

The Irish fought desperately against the relent- 
less invaders ; but, in the earlier years of the inva- 
sion, the Danes were victorious in almost every part 
of the island. When they had vanquished the Irish, 
they avenged themselves by the most savage atroci- 
ties. The Danish warriors forced themselves into 
Irish households, and compelled the families to sup- 
port and serve them. They made the Irish wear 
their own cast-off clothing, and forbade them to have 
schools, to learn the art of war, or to hold Christian 
Turgesthe services. At last, a powerful Danish chief- 
Dane. ta j n namec i Turges brought Ireland under 

well-nigh complete subjection. He built strong for- 
tifications at Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick, and 
took up his abode on the green borders of Lough 
(Lake) Ree, in the heart of Ireland (837). From 
thence he ruled the Irish with an iron hand. He 
compelled them to pay heavy taxes : those who re- 
fused to pay these taxes had their noses cut off. His 
soldiers were quartered on the people, and he cruelly 
punished every attempt to worship according to the 
Christian faith. 

For a long time this Danish despot held his own. 
In vain did the valiant Irish king, Nial, contest his 



THE INVASION OF THE DANES. 39 

power. But the capture and imprisonment of the 
archbishop of Armagh by the Danes aroused the 
ancient military ardor of the Irish. Nial N iars 
defeated the Danes on the plain of Moy- Victor y- 
nith ; and Turges was not long after taken prisoner 
by Malachy, king of Westmeath, and was drowned in 
the waters of Lough Ree. The fortunes of war con- 
tinued to waver between the Irish and the Danes for 
many years. The monasteries, churches, and schools 
were for the most part swept away ; the people were 
impoverished by the almost constant desolation of 
conflict ; and there were times when the Irish seemed 
ready to yield in sullen despair to their rude conquer- 
ors. Now and then an able Irish king would arise, 
inflict heavy defeats upon the Danes, and revive the 
sinking spirits of the people. Then fierce Kivalries of 
rivalries between the princes would break the insh 
out afresh ; and, amid the fatal divisions of pm 
the Irish, the Danes would recover again the ground 
they had lost. 

At last, an ambitious and warlike prince, in the per- 
son of Brian, brother of the king of Munster, arose 
to contend successfully with the savage intruders. 
Brian was a wise as well as a brave man. He not 
only fought with brilliant courage, but gave just 
laws to his subjects. His proud spirit burned to 
avenge the wrongs which the Irish had so long suf- 
fered at the hands of the Danes. He stoutly refused 
to pay the tribute which the Danes exacted of him, 
gathered his forces together, and met the Danes in 



40 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORV OF IRELAND. 

battle at Sulcoit. A desperate battle ensued. In 
the end the Danes were driven from the field, and 
hastened to find refuge within the walls of Limerick. 
The valiant Irish followed them through the gates, 
and drove them out of the city with great slaughter. 
Limerick Limerick was then plundered and burned, 
destroyed. anc j j ts Danish inhabitants were reduced 
to slavery. In the conflict, Mahon, Brian's brother, 
had been slain by the Danes ; and this inspired Brian 
to continue the war with more fiery vigor than 
before. 

Soon after this defeat of the Danes, Brian became, 
by his elder brother's death, king of Munster ; al- 
though, by the law of alternate succession, the throne 
really belonged to a prince of another family. Brian 
was no less, ambitious than energetic. He now re- 
solved to become the ruler of all Erin. 

King Brian. , ... 

With this end in view, he married a sister 
of the king of Leinster, and also caused his children 
to marry into powerful families. He won the affec- 
tion of the people by restoring monasteries and 
schools, rebuilding fortresses and bridges, and driv- 
ing the Danes from the lands which they had seized, 
and had held by superior force. Thirty years after his 
victory over the Danes at Limerick, Brian succeeded 
Maiachy in expelling Malachy, the king of all Ireland, 
dethroned. from his throne, and assumed the crown 
himself. But now Brian quarrelled bitterly with his 
brother-in-law, the king of Leinster. He demanded 
of him a tribute which had long; ceased to be exacted. 



■.,.;:« gg 






Jl ''1 ' L\ 



^ 




THE INVASION OF THE DANES. 41 

Upon this, the king of Leinster allied himself with 
the Danes, and with them prepared to oust Brian 
from the Irish throne. 

The sturdy old warrior promptly aroused himself, 
not only to defend his throne, but also to deal his 
ancient enemy, the Danes, a tremendous blow. Al- 
lied with the Danes were the forces of Leinster, a 
Norwegian fleet under Sigurd, and fresh recruits from 
Norway and Denmark. In all, the forces opposed to 
Brian comprised over twenty thousand men. Brian, 
on his side, entered upon the conflict with thirty 
thousand warriors, drawn from Meath, Minister, and 
Connaught. Five of Brian's sons served as generals 
under their aged but still vigorous sire. The white- 
haired monarch himself rode at the head of his sol- 
diers, inspiring them with his own dauntless and 
unyielding spirit. The hostile forces met T h e battle 
in battle at dawn, on Good Friday, at of clontarf - 
Clontarf (1014). The fight raged with intense, un- 
abating fury throughout the day. The loss, both on 
the side of the Irish and on that of the Danes, was 
terrible. The Danes and their allies lost nearly 
one-half of their army. At dusk, the rout of the 
foreigners had become complete. The Danes fled 
before the prowess of Brian's stalwart warriors, and 
were driven to the coast, and within the walls of 
Dublin. But the brave Brian did not survive his 
hard-won victory. As he lay in his tent, some Danes 
who were hastening from the field discovered and 
slew him. Four of his sons, moreover, had been 



42 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

killed while fighting valiantly for their country's 
cause. 

The battle of Clontarf forever destroyed the as- 
cendancy of the Danes in Ireland. They never re- 
„. . , , t covered from the blow, and ceased from 

Final defeat 

of the that time to continue their attempts to 

gain sway over the entire island. Some of 
their settlements still remained at various points on 
the eastern coast ; and, in process of time, the Danes 
who thus staid in Ireland became Christians, and 
were absorbed among the native race, or among the 
English, who afterwards established themselves over 
the Irish. At the time of the death of Brian, it 
seemed as if the Irish were about to become un- 
disputed masters of their own land. But soon the 
country was once more rent by the feuds and rival- 
ries of ambitious princes, and by bitter struggles to 
seize or hold the royal power. The sad history of 
civil conflict was again and again repeated, until 
Ireland lay once more at the mercy of foreign 
conquerors. 



CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE. 43 



CHAPTER VII. 

CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE. 

MORE than a century and a half elapsed between 
the defeat of the Danes at Clontarf, and the 
invasion of Ireland by another branch of the same 
warlike northern race, the Normans, under " Strong- 
bow." King succeeded king, each having to fight 
for his crown, and many of them laying down their 
lives in the fierce civil conflicts. Malachy the 
Second, who succeeded Brian as king of Ireland, was 
the last sovereign for many generations, who held 
undisputed sway over the whole island. The arch- 
royal family of O'Neil had long since 

, , , . , The O'Neils. 

ceased to be the unquestioned possessors 
of the Irish crown. In this century and a half of 
almost perpetual -wars, many lofty, heroic figures 
appear on the scene of Irish history. Brilliant 
battles are fought ; the tide of conflict flows this 
way and that ; the old martial valor of the Irish, 
whetted by the long struggles with the Danes, has 
revived, and is often called into play beneath the 
banners of the royal and rival O'Briens, O'Neils, and 
O'Connors. 



44 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

During this period the ancient Irish laws and cus- 
toms, and the code established by St. Patrick, rapidly 
gave way before the power of nobles and 

Changes in ° J l 

laws and chieftains at the head of submissive clans. 
No longer was the land everywhere held 
in common, for common uses. It had become, to a 
large degree, the domain of powerful lords, and was 
cultivated by the serfs, whom these lords had sub- 
dued to their service. Slavery continued to be one 
of the features of Irish society. The slaves were 
employed in tilling the land, and in the most menial 
labors. There were three ways in which men 
and women were reduced to slavery. They were 
slavery in either prisoners taken in war, or were con- 
ireiand. demned to slavery as a punishment for 

crime, or were bought in the slave-markets, chiefly 
those of Britain. It was the custom of the Irish, 
even at this early period, to hold fairs, or markets, 
at certain stated places and periods. At these fairs 
goods were exchanged, many kinds of games amused 
the people, and the great lords contended with each 
other in spirited chariot-races. 

The principal articles of commerce in which the 
Irish of this period dealt were slaves, timber (espe- 
irish com- cially Irish oak), and the products of the 
merce. soil. The mechanic arts seem to have 

made little progress, and were only followed by the 
lowest classes. The armorers, who fashioned the 
weapons and armor of the chiefs and their soldiers, 
were the most highly regarded of all artisans. The 



CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE. 45 

literature of the time was composed, for the most 
part, of the ancient legends, and the teachings and 
narratives of the fathers of the church. The race of 
bards still survived ; and the people delighted in the 
strange tales, which, with the accompani- 
ment of the harp, were sung to them of 
fairy horses, speaking trees, the influence of the stars 
on human destiny, and the wonders wrought by 
giants, ogres, and gnomes. Music, as always, had a 
great charm for the Irish. Besides the harp, they had 
trumpets, horns, and bagpipes ; and people of every 
rank prided themselves upon their skill in perform- 
ing on these instruments. Even as late as the 
twelfth century, young men came from every part of 
Europe, to Ireland, to be taught music. The game of 
chess was a very popular pastime of the Games and 
Irish of this period. We hear of the pastimes. 
chess-boards inlaid with gold and silver, and the 
finely carved kings and bishops that were used in 
wealthy Irish households. 

In process of time, several great roads had been 
built in Ireland ; so that, at the period of the Anglo- 
Norman conquest, the island was traversed by high- 
ways and cross-roads in many directions. Five 
highways radiated from Tara to different remote 
points. The great highways were con- 

1 . , , Highways. 

structed so as to admit the passage ot two 
chariots abreast, and the law ordained that they 
should be repaired three times a year. When a fair, 
or a gathering for the playing of the national games, 



46 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

was about to take place, these roads swarmed with a 
motley multitude of nobles and bishops in chariots, 
attended by slaves ; of the common people in rude 
attire ; and often of foreigners who came to see the 
sports, and sometimes to contend for the prizes. 
These occasions were not seldom attended by scenes 
of violence and even of bloodshed, but otherwise 
were full of noisy amusements. 

Under the barbaric rule of the Danes, not only 
had the monasteries and schools been well-nigh swept 
out of Ireland, but the religious fervor of the Irish 
Decline of had been almost quenched. The spirit of 
religion. £\\q people changed from a love of peace 
and quiet occupation, to something of the ferocity 
which marked the Irish of pagan times. The kings 
and princes became brutal and cruel. The morals 
of the people suffered a like decline. Marriage was 
no longer as sacredly regarded as it had once been. 
Men easily divorced themselves from their wives, and 
some of the princes took to themselves several wives. 
Many of the priests themselves had become loose in 
their habits, and the common people were naturally 
degraded into following the example of their rulers 
and religious teachers. At last, in the twelfth cen- 
tury, the deplorable condition of the Irish church 
and of Irish morals, aroused the zeal of some holy 
men, who grieved to see the "Isle of Saints " so far 
fallen from its former religious glory. St. Bernard, 
from his bleak monastery in the Alps, sent forth 
solemn denunciations against the degenerate race ; 



CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE. 47 

and the Irish "saints" — Celsus, Malachy, and Law- 
rence — sought to bring about a revival of piety in 
its midst. 

The pope of Rome, too, was resolved that a nation 
so fervid in its religious zeal should be restored to 
the fold of the Church. He sent a cardi- „ L „ 

The Pope 

nal, Papiron, to Ireland, to reform the and the 
abuses which had crept into the priest- Insh " 
hood and the religious houses, and to arouse the 
Irish to a better life. Papiron went from place to 
place, creating new bishoprics, enjoining a more 
strict observance of the sacred rites and practices, 
and condemning the too common sins of simony, 
usury, drunkenness, and disregard of the marriage- 
tie. So it was that, on the eve of the Anglo-Norman 
invasion, the Irish church was restored The Church 
to something like its former influence and restored - 
power ; that the old religious ardor began to shine 
again ; and that monasteries and churches were 
replanted where they had been destroyed in the long 
era of Danish ascendancy and fierce civil wars. 

This revival of religion was attended by a similar 
revival of scholarship and learning. Once more the 
monasteries became the home of diligent, studious 
monks, absorbing the lore of nations, copying and 
illuminating books of parchment with patient toil, 
compiling histories, and collecting annals. _ . . . , 

r m ° ° Irish schol- 

At this period, not a few Irish scholars ars and 
achieved a fame which has preserved wn ers ' 
their names to our own day. Two monks, Tiernan 



48 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

O'Broin and Scotus, wrote histories, gave the dates 
of eclipses, quoted from Greek and Latin writers, 
and left works of value and authority. The " Four 
Masters," as they were called, of the abbey of Done- 
gal, left important chronicles of Irish history. Flan 
of the monastery, another learned monk, added much 
to the stock of Irish learning ; and the teachers of 
the schools of Lismore and Armagh were long cele- 
brated for the fulness of their learning. Of Lismore 
at this period, an old British chronicler quaintly 
wrote : " It is a famous and holy city, half of which 
is an asylum into which no woman dares enter. 
But it is full of cells and monasteries, and religious 
men in great abundance abide there." 

Thus Ireland seemed on the point of again becom- 
ing a pious and studious land, to which the world 
a period of might once more look for enlightenment, 
hope. p> u t th e long feuds and wars of rival 

princes had done their work ; and, as in the time of 
the Danish invasion, had paved the way for another 
foreign conqueror. Christianity, which had been so 
nearly extinguished by the Danish worshippers of 
Odin and Thor, had at least once more taken root ; 
and although Ireland after the twelfth century never 
regained the religious lead of Europe which she had 
held in the days of Columbkill, the great mass of her 
people adhered to the Christian faith, and to the 
authority of the Roman popes. 



THE INVASION OF THE NORMANS. 49 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE INVASION OF THE NORMANS. 

IN the middle of the twelfth century, the first 
" Plantagenet " king, Henry the Second, was 
reigning in England. He was a great- Henry the 
grandson of William of Normandy, who Second - 
had conquered England, and had assumed the Eng- 
lish crown a hundred years before. Henry was more 
Norman than English in character and tastes. The 
Normans, who had, centuries before, conquered and 
established themselves in the northern part of 
France, which was thus called "Normandy," were of 
the same race as those Danes who had later swept 
over England and Ireland. They came originally, as 
did the Danes, from Norway and Denmark; and hav- 
ing subdued Normandy, they had now overcome the 
English, as the Danes had done before them, and 
were destined, like the Danes, to extend their inva- 
sion to Ireland also. But, unlike the The Nor- 
Danes, the Normans were at least Chris- mans - 
tians ; and so, in their conquests, they did not disturb 
the existing faith of the English or the Irish. 

The pope of Rome, in the middle of the twelfth 



5<D YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF' IRELAND. 

century, was an Englishman, whose family name 
was Nicholas Breakspeare, and whose papal title 
was Adrian the Fourth. In those days, the popes 
claimed the right to dispose, as they pleased, of all 
the islands of the sea. They were in the habit of 
granting islands to such kings as they favored ; and 
the kings, armed with the pope's grants, believed 
that they were justified in seizing upon the islands, 
PopeAdri- and ruling them. Adrian the Fourth, by 
an's buii. a so i emn " bull," or decree, made over 
Ireland to Henry the Second of England, and gave 
him permission to invade, conquer, and hold pos- 
session of the island (1155). The pope declared 
that he did this for the purpose of suppressing vice, 
planting virtue, and spreading the faith among the 
Irish. Sixteen years elapsed, however, before Henry 
availed himself of the pope's authority to invade 
Ireland. 

The reigning king of Ireland at this time was 

Roderick O'Connor, a brave, but harsh and cruel 

„ . ruler. Roderick was the last of the Celtic 

King Roder- 
ick o'Con- sovereigns of all Ireland. It was with 

difficulty that he held possession of the 
royal power. In both Ulster and Minister his author- 
ity was disputed and defied by the native princes. 
He had, moreover, a bitter quarrel with Dermid, 
prince of Leinster ; and it was this quarrel, which, in 
its results, brought about the Norman invasion of 
Ireland. Dermid of Leinster was a coarse and brutal 
old man, over sixty years of age, but still swayed by 



THE INVASION OF THE NORMANS. 5 I 

violent passions. He was gigantic of stature, stal- 
wart of frame, despotic and overbearing in temper. 
Among the petty chiefs in Connaught was Tiernan 
O'Rourke, lord of Brefny, who had a comely wife 
named Dervorgoil. Dermid persuaded Dermics 
Dervorgoil to desert her husband, and to f eacher y- 
elope with him. O'Rourke vowed vengeance upon 
the destroyer of his domestic peace, and appealed 
for help to Roderick. In this appeal he was joined 
by Dervorgoii's kinsmen, the powerful family of 
O'Melaghlm. 

Dermid soon found himself confronted by a formid 
able array of enemies. King Roderick, O'Rourke, 
and the O'Melaghlins were speedily joined not only 
by the Danes who were settled in and around Dublin, 
and whom Dermid had grievously oppressed, but also 
by many of Dermid's own subjects. In vain did the 
dissolute old tyrant labor to gather about him an 
army which could cope with such a host of strong and 
enraged foes. Then he added a fresh crime to his 
other misdeeds, and turned traitor to his _ 

Dermid ap- 

country. He fled from Ireland, hastened peais to the 
to France, and presented himself before ng 1S 
the English king, who was then busy with his wars 
in Aquitaine. Dermid unblushingly proposed to 
Henry to lose no time in making use of the pope's 
authority, given thirteen years before, to possess 
himself of Ireland ; and eagerly offered his aid in ac- 
complishing that end. Henry was not yet ready to 
enter upon the conquest of Ireland in person ; but 



52 .YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

he gave Dermic! a letter which granted permission to 
his knights and subjects to enlist under the Leinster 
prince, and to help him in his design of subduing 
Ireland. In return for this concession, Dermid 
promptly swore allegiance to the English crown. 

Armed with Henry's letter, Dermid repaired to 
western England and Wales, and soon found some 
adventurous Norman knights, who, lured by Dermid's 
lavish promises of lands and plunder, agreed to lead 
an expedition into Ireland. The chief of these was 
Richard de Clare, earl of Pembroke, who, from the 
strength of his arms, was called " Strong- 
bow." This man was bold, able, and am- 
bitious. He was middle-aged, poor in purse, and had 
long chafed at the want of an opportunity to show 
his metal on the battle-field. He was a distant rela- 
tive of Henry, but Henry had for a long time found 
no use for his services. Strongbow was at once 
attracted by Dermid's project. Dermid promised 
him not only a large domain in Ireland, but also 
his daughter Eva in marriage ; and Strongbow con- 
ceived the hope of one day himself becoming king of 
Leinster. 

Other Norman nobles and knights, eager to em- 
ploy their idle arms, joined Dermid and Strongbow. 
The Norman Among them were Maurice Fitzgerald, the 
knights. ancestor of the Geraldines, who afterwards 

became very powerful in the Irish districts of Mil- 
dare and Desmond ; Fitzgerald's half-brother, Robert 
Fitz - Stephen ; the two Fitz-IIenrys, illegitimate 



THE INVASION OF THE NORMANS. 53 

grandsons of the English Henry the First ; Ray- 
mond le Gros ; and Henry Montmorres. A plan of 
invasion was soon arranged ; and ere long a formidable 
force of Norman soldiers, well disciplined, skilful 
with the bow, and amply armed, had been collected. 
Dermid returned to Ireland, and awaited the coming 
of his Norman allies. In the late spring _. _ 

1 ° First mva- 

(1169), the advance guard of the expedi- sion of the 
tion, under the command of Fitz-Stephen ormans - 
and Montmorres, — in all, about one thousand men — 
crossed the Irish Channel. The Irish defenders of 
soil were ill-prepared to cope with the hardy Norman 
soldiery. Their armor was little protection : their 
weapons were by no means so effective as those of 
the Normans. 

Fitz-Stephen easily seized Wexford, on the coast, 
driving its Danish garrison out ; and his soldiers rav- 
aged the country roundabout. Then Raymond le Gros 
crossed the Channel, and assailed Waterford. Strong- 
bow followed with the rest of the Norman army. 
Waterford was taken, plundered, and fired ; and 
Strongbow was wedded to the princess Eva of Lein- 
ster, amid the desolation of the ruined town. Der- 
mid had now joined his allies, and the invaders 
proceeded to attack Dublin. This town was, for the 
most part, settled by Danes, who seem to have by this 
time lost their old-time warlike prowess. Fan of 
At all events, Dublin fell into the hands Dublin - 
of the assailants, and was mercilessly sacked by the 
victorious Normans. From thence they sallied forth 



54 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

to spread desolation through the ancient domain of 
Meath. The Danes hastily took ship, and found 
refuge in the Orkney Islands. 

Roderick O'Connor, the Irish king, was aroused 
by these disasters to make a desperate stand against 
the invaders. Aided by the king of Thomond and 
the fighting archbishop, Lawrence, Roderick laid 
siege to Dublin. He entirely failed, however, to dis- 
lodge the Normans, and was forced to be content 
with capturing Wexford from them. A year passed, 
with varying fortunes to the invaders and the invaded. 
In the spring Dermid died of a complication of dis- 
eases ; and Strongbow attemped, in vain, to assert his 
strongbow's claim to the throne of Leinster. He suf- 
defeats. fered a succession of defeats, in the most 

important of which, that at Thurles, the Normans 
lost nearly two thousand men. Strongbow was forced 
to seek safety, with the rest of his army, within the 
walls of Waterford, where he contented himself with 
holding sway over the immediate neighborhood of 
that stronghold. 

Events in Ireland had been watched for some time, 
with growing anxiety, by the English king. He had 
permitted his knights to enlist under Dermid and 
Strongbow, and was well content with the prospect 
King Henry of adding Ireland to his dominions. But 
alarmed. now Henry began to fear that if the am- 
bitious Strongbow succeeded in conquering the 
island, he would set himself up as its independent 
king, and would then altogether renounce his alle- 



THE INVASION OF THE NORMANS. 55 

giance to the English crown. Accordingly Henry 
sent word to the Norman knights in Ireland, that they 
must at once return to England. Perhaps Strong- 
bow and his comrades were not sorry to receive this 
command ; for, when it came, their situation was 
serious if not desperate. The Irish had at last as- 
serted their superior strength, and the only strong- 
holds left to the Normans were in danger of being 
taken by the aroused natives. Strongbow, therefore, 
promptly obeyed the king, crossed over to England, 
and received the royal pardon. 

Henry now resolved that he would put forth all 
the strength of his English kingdom to subdue Ire- 
land. He was a warlike prince, and greedy of con- 
quest ; and he determined to lead his forces in person. 
An army of four hundred knights and four thousand 
men-at-arms crossed the channel, being conveyed to 
the Irish coast by a fleet of two hundred „ , . 

J Henry s m- 

and forty ships. Henry easily effected a vasion of 
landing at Waterford, which still remained 
in Norman hands (1171). The chiefs of southern 
Ireland were awed by the display of so imposing an 
array of well-trained, well-armed, and valiant soldiers. 
King Roderick was away in the north, engaged in 
a conflict with the princes of Ulster. The Irish 
were divided and distracted by the quarrels of rival 
chiefs. It seemed that no force adequate to cope 
with the English king could be got together. The 
power conferred by the pope upon Henry to take 
Ireland, moreover, checked the patriotism of the 



$6 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Irish clergy, and dampered the ardor of the Irish 
leaders. 

One after another, the princes of southern Ireland 

gave in their submission to the English monarch. 

The example was set by McCarthy, king 

Victory of l J J > & 

the Angio- of Cork, who repaired to Waterford, swore 
allegiance to Henry, and surrendered Cork 
to a Norman garrison. O'Brien of Thomond, Don- 
chad of Ossory, and O'Phelan of Decies, followed in 
his wake. Henry made a bloodless march into the 
interior, planted garrisons at Cashel and Tipperary, 
and entered Dublin in triumph. The chiefs of Lein- 
ster and Munster kept coming in, and accepting the 
English yoke. Roderick, with little capacity for war 
on a large scale, was forced to remain sullenly west 
of the Shannon ; but while he made no vigorous 
attempt to dislodge the English, he never submitted 
to their rule in Ireland. The heroic chiefs of Ulster, 
~. ~,„t ., too, the ancient royal race of O'Neil, and 

The O'Neils ' J ' 

refuse to the sturdy house of O'Donnel, refused to 
yield to the invader, and, for centuries 
after, held out against every effort oi the English to 
subdue them. 



THE ENGLISH SETTLEMENT OF IRELAND. 57 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE ENGLISH SETTLEMENT OF IRELAND. 

HENRY the Second celebrated his victory by- 
holding brilliant Christmas festivities in Dub- 
lin. Gathered about him was a gay array of valiant 
Norman knights, whose armor and attire Festivities 
dazzled the natives, and who, in their in Dublin - 
elegance, displayed a marked contrast to the ruder 
Irish chiefs. Most of the Irish wore, instead of 
mail, orange-colored and saffron shirts. Instead of 
long bows, they carried javelins, spears, and battle- 
axes. Henry soon turned from revels and rejoi- 
cings to serious work. He was a very able states- 
man, as well as an energetic warrior. He set to 
himself the task of establishing his authority in Ire- 
land. He refused to confirm Strongbow as king of 
Leinster, and he took away the lands which had 
been given by Dermid to Strongbow and , 

o j o Introduction 

his companions ; giving them back to them, of the feudal 
however, as their feudal chief. This was system - 
the first step taken by Henry in introducing the 
feudal system into Ireland. 

He then proceeded to plant in the Irish districts 



58 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

over which he held sway, English laws and institu- 
tions. He did not require the native Irish, however, 
to submit to English laws, but allowed the ancient 
Brehon laws to remain in force among them. The 
English laws were only imposed on the Normans and 
English who established themselves in the country. 
The king appointed marshals, justiciaries, constables, 
chamberlains, and other officers, to act in Ireland. 
He divided the portions of the island under his con- 
„ , trol into counties, and appointed sheriffs 

Henry s gov * * 

emment in to serve in them. He created three great 
law-courts, — the King's Bench, the Com- 
mon Pleas, and the Exchequer, — corresponding to the 
courts of the same name in England. He appointed 
a lord-chief-justice, a chancellor, and a treasurer. 
He also created the office of viceroy, the holder 
of which should act as supreme governor of Ireland 
during the king's absence. He filled all the offices 
with his own Norman adherents, and put all the 
military strongholds under the command of Norman 
soldiers. 

Henry knew how important it was to win the sub- 
mission of the Christian bishops and clergy to his 
rule. Their hold upon the reverence and affection 
of the people was a strong one. By conciliating 
them, he would be strengthening his own power in 
Ireland. The bishops and clergy were already in- 
clined towards him, out of respect to the papal bull 
under which he had claimed the right to invade Ire- 
land. Henry summoned an assembly of bishops and 



THE ENGLISH SETTLEMENT OF IRELAND. 59 

priests at Cashel, and declared to them, that hence- 
forth the church-lands should be exempt 

The church. 

from confiscation or taxation ; that the 
priesthood should be relieved of certain fines ; and 
that the people should be compelled to pay tithes for 
the support of the church. A large majority of the 
bishops and priests thereupon accepted the sover- 
eignty of the English king, and exercised their 
influence in securing his authority in the island. 

But by far the most important acts of Henry in 
Ireland were those by which he dealt with the lands, 
and attempted to replace the ancient tenure and 
division of lands by the feudal system. According to 
the old Irish custom, the lands had been r . a „„„ ,„ 

Changes in 

held by each tribe in common. Then the the tenure of 

t , • r 1 i i • Irish land. 

princes and chiefs had acquired possession 
of large tracts, which were tilled by the peasantry 
and the slaves. But still the lands were supposed to 
be derived, not from a sovereign or prince, but from 
the tribe as a whole. The feudal system was directly 
the opposite of this. By the feudal system, all the 
land of a country was supposed to be owned by the 
king. He claimed the right to divide it up, and give 
portions of it, as he pleased, to his knights and* 
courtiers. In return for these grants of land, the 
knights and courtiers agreed to give military aid, at 
the head of their retainers, to the king in time of 
war. So, too, the knights and courtiers divided up 
the domain thus acquired, and distributed it among 
their followers, who in their turn agreed to follow 



60 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

their lords to the field whenever summoned. The 
lands became hereditary in the families which held 
them, and the military services owed for them be- 
came hereditary also. 
i Henry really had no right, either to the sovereignty 
of Ireland, or to the disposal of the Irish lands. His 
claim was founded upon the pope's authority, which 
had no basis in law. His dominion in Ireland was 
purely and simply the result of superior physical 
force. And in order to establish his power, he for- 
cibly imposed the feudal system upon the conquered 
race. He thus laid the foundation for those land 
_ . . , troubles in Ireland which have continued 

Beginning of 

land trou- from the time of his invasion down to the 
present day. He began by taking lands 
away from the native Irish, and giving them into the 
hands of Norman and English foreigners. These 
became the landlords ; while the native Irish became 
their tenants, and the humble tillers of the soil. The 
descendants of the Normans and English continued 
to be the owners and masters, and the descendants 
of the Celtic population continued to be their serfs. 
In later centuries, more and more lands were taken 
from the Irish by succeeding English monarchs, and 
handed over to their English followers, soldiers, and 
favorites. In this way, in the course of time, grew 
up the unjust and cruel land-system in Ireland, 
which survived to our own time. 

The whole of the ancient royal domain of Meath, 
where the kin£s of all Ireland had rei<rned so Ions: 



THE ENGLISH SETTLEMENT OF IRELAND. 6l 

in power and renown, was given by Henry to the 
Norman lord, Hugh de Lacy. Ulster was The domain 
awarded to John de Courcy ; but owing of Meath - 
to the obstinate resistance of the O'Neils, the O'Don- 
nels, and other sturdy Ulster chiefs, De Courcy never 
succeeded in getting possession of the province. 
Cork was given up to Fitz-Stephen and De Cogan, 
Limerick to De Braosa, Decies to Le Poer, Water- 
ford to De Bohun, Wexford to Fitzgerald and Mont- 
morres, Connaught to Fitz-Aldelm. The city of 
Dublin was awarded to the English town of Bristol. 
The Normans lost no time in making raids to seize 
the lands thus granted, and planted settlements 
and forts wherever they could get a foothold. They 
swarmed through the fertile valleys of the Irish 
rivers, and established themselves on the broad 
plains of Louth and Meath. All along the eastern 
coast the Normans effected lodgements, as c • 

o ' Settlement 

the Danes had done centuries before, of the 
Thus the new-comers occupied and held } n g 1S 
the lands awarded to them by the king, by sheer 
force. Every Irishman who resisted them was con- 
demned as a traitor. No mercy was shown to the 
native " rebels." 

If a tribe whose domain had thus been seized 
resisted, it was promptly driven from the soil on 
which it had dwelt from time immemorial. The 
Irish who remained became peasant tillers of the 
land which had lately been their own, were forced 
to pay rent for it, and were subject to being expelled 



62 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

from it at the will or sudden caprice of the new 
possessors. But, after all, Henry had only succeeded 
in establishing his actual rule over a small portion of 
Ireland. He held Limerick, Cork, Waterford, Wex- 
ford, and Dublin, and a certain region of country 
roundabout those places, with his garrisons and sol- 
.... , diery. Outside these limits, his dominion 

Limits of J ' 

English was rather nominal than a reality. The 

dominion. c T , , . , • t 1 1 

centre or English power in Ireland was 
Dublin, and a certain territory in its neighborhood, 
comprising the counties of Dublin, Kildare, Meath, 
and Louth. This territory came to be known as the 
"English Pale," — a name which it retained for a 
long period. It was over four hundred years, indeed, 
before the power of the English became permanently 
established in Ireland, beyond the region described 
as the Pale. 

King Henry only remained in Ireland seven 
months. He was suddenly called away on a seri- 
ous errand. Thomas a Becket, archbishop of Can- 
terbury, had been killed before the altar of his own 
cathedral by some of Henry's knights. The king, 
suspected of having connived at the crime, was 
summoned to explain it to the envoys of the pope, 
strongbow who were in France. He left Strongbow 
in command. as v [ cer0 y ) or governor, of Ireland; and 
Strongbow continued the struggle to subdue the 
native Irish. The warfare between the Normans and 
the Irish went on incessantly. Ulster and Connaught 
held out persistently against the intruders, who often 



THE ENGLISH SETTLEMENT OF IRELAND. 6$ 

sallied forth from their strongholds in the Pale, only 
to be driven back before the fiery though undisci- 
plined valor of the Irish. Strongbow's career as 
viceroy was full of ups and downs. He still asserted 
his claim to the crown of Ulster ; but this was stoutly 
resisted by Donald " the Handsome," son of the late 
king, Dermid. Strongbow, enraged at this, caused 
one of Donald's sons, whom he held as a hostage, to 
be put to death. 

Then began a fierce and vindictive struggle be- 
tween the two claimants to the Leinster throne ; and, 
from this time forth, Strongbow's fortunes „ . , 

» Contest for 

began to wane. Donald inflicted a severe the throne 
defeat upon him ; and, in the following year 
(1174), Strongbow was confronted at Thurles by the 
army of the arch-king Roderick, allied with a power- 
ful chief, Donald O'Brien. The viceroy was utterly 
routed, leaving more than a thousand of his Norman 
warriors dead on the field. He fled within the walls 
of Dublin with the remnant of his force, to find 
there that his garrison had been slaughtered by the 
people. While his condition was thus desperate, 
Strongbow was suddenly ordered by Henry to join 
him in France. He soon returned to Ireland, how- 
ever, with new powers. He made his peace with the 
powerful family of Geraldine, whom he had alienated 
from him by his jealousy of them, giving his sister 
in marriage to Maurice Fitzgerald, the chief of the 
family. 

For a little, the fortunes of war turned in favor of 



64 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Strongbow. He retook Limen k, strengthened the 
defences of Waterford, and prohu Ay caused his rival, 
Donald, to be murdered. But now the sturdy war- 
rior, who had fought so obstinately to subdue the 
Irish, was attacked by a fatal disorder. His foot 
became ulcerated, and he lingered in a -ong and 
strongbow's agonizing illness. He died nine years 
death. after his first arrival in Ireland, and was 

buried, with much pomp, in Christ Church, Du' 
(11 77). Thus passed away the most redoubtable of 
Ireland's Norman enemies. The name of Strongbow 
still recalls to Irish minds the beginning of the seven 
centuries of English dominion. In the same year 
died Strongbow's brother-in-law, the brilliant Maurice 
Fitzgerald, who had so long been his companion in 
arms. Fitzgerald was the ancestor of a long line of 
nobles, who became the heads of the two branches 
of the powerful Geraldine family, the earls of Des- 
mond and Kildare. 

Roderick O'Connor, the arch-king of Ireland, had 
been able to hold his own against the Normans west 
King of the river Shannon, and had even gained 

Roderick. some victories over their armies. But he 
had not been able to attempt their expulsion from 
Irish soil. He was a brave and patriotic, but unfor- 
tunate, prince. He was constantly called upon to 
fight with the jealous rival chiefs of the north and 
west. In the hour of his perplexities his own sons 
turned against him, just as the sons of the English 
Henry had by this time become their father's foes 



THE ENGLISH SETTLEMENT OF IRELAND. 65 

on the battle-field. Roderick was at last compelled 
to seek a sort of alliance with the English con- 
queror. He accordingly sent envoys, among them 
the devout St. Lawrence, to Henry, and Treaty with 
made a treaty with him ( 1 1 77). This King Henry - 
compact was called the treaty of Windsor, because 
it was signed in that royal town. By its provisions, 
Henry recognized Roderick as king of all Ireland, 
outside the places actually held by the English. In 
return, Roderick acknowledged Henry as his "lord 
paramount," agreed to pay a certain annual tribute 
of hides, and stipulated that the chiefs under him 
should every year present to the English king a 
certain number of hawks and hounds. But, as a 
result of the events which ensued, this treaty was 
never fully carried out. 



.66 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE NORMAN KNIGHTS. 

THE last years of the arch-king, Roderick O'Con- 
nor, were imbittered by the hostility and trea- 
son of his own sons. His eldest son, Murray, joined 
hands with the Norman knight, De Cogan, and with 
him marched through central Ireland, spreading 
havoc and burning villages as he went. The na- 
tive tribes fled in dismay before him. But at last, 
near Tuam, the Irish turned at bay upon their treach- 
erous prince and his Norman ally. Murray was 
„ , , forced to retreat ; but it was too late. A 

Defeat of 

Murray host of Irish, led by Murray's own kins- 

men, fell upon the allied force, which was 
soon scattered in every direction. Murray himself 
was taken, and his eyes were put out as the penalty 
of his perfidy. Then Roderick's younger son, Conor, 
was declared to be the heir to the Irish throne. 
There soon broke out a desperate struggle between 
the princes of the royal house, which resulted in 
much slaughter on both sides, but in no decisive 
triumph for either. 

Conor now treated his father, the arch-king, with 



THE NORMAN KNIGHTS. 6 1 / 

cruel severity. He at first banished him into south- 
ern Ireland, but afterwards allowed him to live on a 
small farm in the midst of his own clan. Roderick 
was old, and weary of the world. In a short time he 
retired to a monastery founded by the early Chris- 
tians at Cong, on Lough Mask. In this monastery, 
the aged monarch gave himself up to religious ex- 
ercises, and reflected mournfully on his Death of 
many misfortunes. He died at the mod- Roderick, 
astery in his eighty-second year (1198), and was 
quietly buried in the royal tomb of Clonmacnoise. 
Thus passed away the last prince fully entitled to 
wear the crown of all Ireland. With Roderick the 
long line of "ard-righ," or arch-kings, ended. The 
task of defending Ireland from her formidable Nor- 
man foes was too great for Roderick's powers. He 
was brave and patriotic, but could not cope at once 
with the rebellions of Irish princes, and the assaults 
of foreign invaders. 

Meanwhile, Strongbow had been succeeded in the 
command of Ireland by an indolent knight, Fitz 
Aldelm. But among the Normans who surrounded 
him was a stalwart noble, full of restless energy. 
This was John de Courcy, a descendant j h n de 
of kings, as proud as he was valiant. It Courc y- 
has already been stated that De Courcy had received 
the province of Ulster as his appanage from the 
English king. He now resolved to attempt its con- 
quest. Many of his fellow-knights, eager for warfare, 
and impatient of their idle life at Dublin, joined his 



68 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

standard. De Courcy set forth at the head of a force 
of five hundred men. He encountered and defeated 
a native army at Howth, and then marched on Dovvn- 
patrick. There was an ancient tradition that this 
„ _ town would be captured by a knight who 

De Courcy r J ° 

takes Down- had birds upon his shield, and who rode a 
patnck. white horse. It happened that a bird was 

on the armorial crest of De Courcy, and De Courcy 
also appeared on a white horse. The people of 
Downpatrick, terrified by these omens, speedily sub- 
mitted ; and De Courcy entered the town. 

The warfare between the invaders of Ulster and 
its Irish defenders lasted for several years. Some- 
times one side, and sometimes the other, triumphed. 
In course of time, De Courcy acquired a strong hold 
upon various places on the Ulster coast. He for- 
tified Lecale and the Ardes, built castles on the 
shores of Strangford Lake, and made some expedi- 
tions into the interior. But the greater part of 
Ulster remained unconquered. The heroic tribe of 
„ , O'Neil held out sturdily, and to the last 

Resistance J 

of the resisted De Courcy's attempt to carry his 

rule over the entire province ; while the 
lesser chiefs, for the while, composed their differ- 
ences in the face of the danger from a common foe. 
Even when De Courcy gained a foothold in the in- 
terior, he was so constantly harassed by bold bands 
of the Ulster Irish, that he was often forced to give 
way, and retire to the seaboard. 
- The English king, Henry, was especially fond of 







At. 




De Courcy entering Downpatrick. — Page 68. 



THE NORMAN KNIGHTS. 69 

his youngest son, John, — the same John who after- 
wards became king of England, and was forced by 
the barons to sign the "great charter" of his people's 
liberties. It is thought by some historians that one 
of Henry's reasons for wishing to conquer Ireland 
was, that he might provide John with a kingdom to 
himself. John was a youth of eighteen years. He 
was wilful, heartless, and cruel, even at that early 
age. In spite, however, of his youth and p r ince John 
bad qualities, Henry now sent him across in Ireland - 
St. George's Channel, with the title and powers of 
" Lord of Ireland." Scarcely had John set foot on 
the island, before he began to conduct himself in 
such a way as to inspire the hatred of the Irish, and 
the contempt even of the English. He was sur- 
rounded by a company of dissolute and reckless 
young nobles, whose society was more congenial to 
him than was that of the grave statesmen whom his 
father had sent to advise him. 

When John landed at Waterford (1185), he was 
met by the English archbishop of Dublin, and a 
large number of knights in costly array. These were 
attended, also, by some of the chiefs of the Leinster 
clans who had submitted to the English, and now 
came to pay homage to their new ruler. These chiefs 
advanced to meet the prince with grave John's odious 
dignity, in order to give him, according to conduct - 
an old Irish custom, the kiss of peace. John laughed 
insolently in their faces. He caught hold of their 
beards, and roughly pulled them, and made sport of 



yO YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

their attire. The Leinster chiefs, outraged by this 
insult, abruptly retired to their homes. John was 
scarcely less insulting in his bearing towards the 
English knights, by whom he presently became as 
intensely detested as he was by the Irish. He spent 
his days in reckless pleasures, and thus wasted the 
time which was to have been spent in military cam- 
paigns. He caused a number of castles to be built ; 
but these were assailed by the Irish chiefs, and sev- 
successes of eral of them were captured. The bold 
Irish chiefs. Donald O'Brien took the largest castle, 
that of Ardfinan ; while Lismore was also seized by 
the native bands. John's rule, indeed, was dis- 
astrous on every hand ; and he was at last reluctantly 
called back to England by his royal father. 

A famous, strong-willed English cavalier, Hugh 
de Lacy, had held for a short time a high place 
in Ireland, — that of constable, — before John's ar- 
rival. He had been recalled by the king, who now 
sent him back to Ireland again to take the chief 
The consta- command. De Lacy is described by the 
bieDeLacy. q^ wr it ers as being short of stature, 
deformed, with large, dark, piercing eyes, and forbid- 
ding features. He was very covetous of power, as 
well as of riches. During his previous sojourn in 
Ireland he had been guilty of many misdeeds, one 
of which had never been forgotten or forgiven by 
the Irish. He had enticed Tiernan O'Rourke, lord 
of West Meath, one of the bravest of the native 
chiefs, to meet him on a lonely hill for a peaceful 



THE NORMAN KNIGHTS. 7 1 

conference ; and had there caused him to be murdered. 
Soon after his return to take John's place, he married 
the daughter of O'Connor, a powerful Irish noble. 

De Lacy's violent tyranny soon made him as 
heartily hated as John had been. He seized and 
sacked monasteries and churches, and De Lacy's 
appropriated their wealth to his own use. ty rann y- 
He took a fancy, among other things, to convert 
the ancient monastery of Durrow, which had been 
founded centuries before by the sainted Columbkill, 
into a castle for his own residence. This was looked 
upon by the Irish as a desecration of the sacred edi- 
fice. One day, as De Lacy was standing on the walls, 
inspecting the alterations which his workmen were 
making on the monastery, a daring young Irishman 
of noble family, named O'Meyey, suddenly attacked 
him from behind. With one mighty blow Murder of 
of his axe, he completely severed the ty- De Lacy - 
rant's head from his body. O'Meyey fled into the 
neighboring forest, and safely escaped. The Irish 
rejoiced at the death of a man who had so cruelly 
used them, and were glad that the fate to which he 
had doomed O'Rourke had now befallen him also. 

The English king, Henry the Second, died ( 1 1 89) 
after a long and brilliant reign, and was succeeded 
by his warlike son, Richard the First (the " Lion- 
hearted"). Throughout his brief reign of ten years, 
Richard was almost continually absent K in g 
from his kingdom, either at the crusades, Richard - 
or engaged in fighting the French. The English in 



J2 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Ireland were therefore, during that period, left to 
shift for themselves. Of all the cavaliers who re- 
mained on Irish soil, the boldest and most ambitious 
was De Courcy. He professed to be very pious. He 
carried about with him certain writings of Columbkill, 
and took great care to guard and preserve the relics 
of some of the Irish saints. Yet he did not pause 
in his attempts to subdue the Irish of Ulster, and 
also of Connaught, to his sway. In spite, however, 
of the feuds which so often arose to divide the Irish 
princes, even De Courcy's prowess did not avail to 
greatly extend the limits of his dominion. In a 
Defeat of great battle fought in Connaught, De 
De courcy. Courcy was routed by an allied force of 
Irishmen of Connaught, Ulster, and Munster, under 
the valiant Donald O'Brien, and was forced to retire 
once more to his eastern strongholds. 

For ten years, Ireland was the scene of almost 
perpetual carnage. Conor, the son of Roderick, the 
arch-king, was assassinated by his cousins ; and the 
old fires of jealousy and rivalry broke out among 
the princes with all their former fury. The English 
allied themselves, now with one chief, now with 
another, taking advantage of their fierce dissensions 
as occasion offered. The fortunes of war varied 
from month to month. The unhappy people were 
desolated by all these conflicts, yet they sturdily 
resisted the attempts of the English to possess 
themselves of the domain. The new landlords, even 
when they had effected a lodgement, were continually 



THE NORMAN KNIGHTS. /3 

harassed by the inhabitants, and only held their own 
by the superior force of arms. Whenever an English 
lord of the soil became weak in defence, the ven- 
geance of the people fell quickly and savagely upon 
him. Meanwhile, the two different systems of law -f" 
— the Norman, or English, and the ancient Irish — 
were put in force side by side, and created confusion of 
endless confusion. In the English Pale, laws - 
if an Irishman killed an Englishman, his punishment 
was death. But in those parts of the country where 
the Brehon, or old Irish, law, prevailed, an English- 
man who killed an Irishman, only had to pay a fine. 
Similar differences ran all through the two codes, 
that of the Irish being always the more gentle of 
the two. 

Just as the reign of Richard the First was coming 
to a close, a great Irish hero arose, in the person of 
Cathal O'Connor. Cathal's life had been a romantic 
one from his childhood. He was a younger half- 
brother of the arch-king Roderick, but was illegiti- 
mate. He therefore became, when a mere babe, the 
object of the hatred of the jealous Irish queen. His 
mother fled with him for refuge in the monasteries, 
and Cathal spent his boyhood as a farm- cathai of 
laborer. One day, when he was reaping Connaught. 
wheat in a field, he heard of events which opened 
the way to his return to his native Connaught. 
"Farewell, sickle!" he exclaimed, throwing it down, 
" now for the sword!" He entered vigorously into 
the conflict which was raging in Connaught, and dis- 



74 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

played a fiery valor which inspired his adherents to 
heroic deeds. The death of Donald O'Brien, who 
had fought so obstinately against the English, left 
Cathal the foremost of Irish warriors. He made 
alliances with powerful chiefs, and soothed the dis- 
cords which had doomed Ireland to so many misfor- 
tunes, just as the twelfth centmy was closing, 
Cathal was able to declare himself king of Connaught, 
and to maintain his title by a stout defence. 

The base and cruel John had now ascended the 
English throne, and soon made extensive grants of 
King John's land in Connaught to his English followers, 
accession. Chief among the knights thus favored 
were De Courcy and De Burgh. But they could not 
conquer the territories which John had given them ; 
and, soon after this, De Courcy, who had proved so 
persistent and redoubtable, disappears altogether 
from the scenes of his exploits in Ireland. We find, 
however, the descendants of these early English 
knights, who contended so stoutly for the possession 
of Irish land, to this day surviving as nobles and 
landlords. The descendant of De Courcy is baron 
Kinsale, who has the privilege of wearing his hat in 
presence of the English sovereign, — a privilege 
accorded to an ancestor as the reward of some ser- 
vice to the crown. The Burkes, lords of Clanricarde, 
spring from the sturdy stock of De Burgh ; and both 
families hold both Irish titles and Irish lands in our 
own time. 



THE BKUCES IN IRELAND. 75 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE DRUCES IN IRELAND. 

ABOUT fifteen years after his first sojourn in 
Ireland, John, now king of England, paid a sec- 
ond visit to that country. But this time he went 
over, less for the purpose of conquering the Irish, 
than to curb the too rapidly growing power and inde- 
pendence of the great Norman-English lords. John's 
acts on this second visit were wiser than King John in 
those he had committed during his first so- Ireland - 
journ in Ireland. He arrived with a large fleet, which 
is said, by some historians, to have comprised no less 
than seven hundred vessels ; and his first proceeding 
was to subdue the haughty De Lacys, who had as- 
sumed a sort of royal power in Meath. The De 
Eacys were soon overcome, and, flying from point to 
point, at last took refuge in Scotland. Later, how- 
ever, they came to terms with John, who restored 
them to their Irish domains upon the payment by 
them of large tributes. John also made a treaty with 
the valorous Cathal, king of Connaught, by which 
the latter was secured in a part, at least, of his patri- 
mony. Cathal fought doughtily against the De Lacys 



j6 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

and other English settlers as long as he lived, and 
Death of died, after a brilliant career, at nearly 
cathai. eighty, in the abbey of Knoekmoy. 

The only other notable thing which John did 
during his brief stay in Ireland was to divide Lein- 
ster and Minister into the twelve counties which 
have existed to the present day. Many generations 
elapsed, after John's departure from Ireland, before 
an English king again trod her soil. The long reign 
of Henry the Third, who succeeded John (1216), was 
mostly taken up with troubled affairs in England, 
and with conflicts with the Welsh and French. Ire- 
land, therefore, during the greater part of the 
thirteenth century, was left pretty much to herself. 
The English The English who were settled in Ireland 
m Ireland. could not count on help from England, but 
were forced to maintain themselves as best they could 
by their own unaided resources. The Irish, on the 
other hand, did not have to fear fresh English at- 
tempts at general conquest, but rather that the feuds 
of their own chiefs would undo them. On each side, 
indeed, jealousy and dissension prevented the achieve- 
ment of decisive triumph. The English knights, like 
the Irish chiefs, were as often found quarrelling and 
fighting with each other, as combining against the 
common foe. 

Perhaps the most interesting feature of this period 
was the rise of certain great Anglo-Norman (or, as 
it is more convenient to call them, English) families 
in Ireland. The power and warlike ability of some 



THE BRUCES IN IRELAND. 'JJ 

of these families produced important results through 
a long period of time. One of the most eminent of 
these families was that of Fitzgerald, descended from 
the Maurice Fitzgerald who had been among the 
first Norman knights to attempt the conquest of 
Ireland. This family was known as the The 
Geraldines. The heads of its two lead- Geraidines. 
ing branches were afterwards famous as the earls of 
Kildare and Desmond. These two branches of the 
Geraldines are represented to this clay by the duke 
of Leinster (descended from the earls of Kildare) 
and the marquis of Lansdowne (descended from the 
earls of Desmond). Both branches received from 
time to time large domains in Ireland, some of which 
still remain in possession of their successors. An- 
other great family which became powerful in that early 
time was that of the Butlers, the founder 

r . . r The Butlers. 

of which family received extensive gifts of 
land in Kilkenny and Tipperary. The Butlers played 
a notable part in both Irish and English history in 
succeeding generations, and were known as the earls 
and dukes of Ormond. 

At first, these English possessors of Irish domains 
lived to themselves, in the strong, towering castles 
which they built. These castles were protected by 
massive walls and towers, moats and bastions. Here 
the English knight might at least hold his own against 
the hostile clans who dwelt in his neighborhood ; and, 
on favorable occasion, issue forth with his retainers 
to punish the depredations of the natives. Thus he 



yS YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

\ protected the farms of his tenants, which lay below 
the castle-walls. Often he had no slight task in de- 
fending the herds and flocks of these tenants, which 
were a favorite object of pillage by the Irish bands. 
The English lord held a court in his castle, in which 
he punished the misdeeds of his tenantry, or settled 
the quarrels which arose between them. He was 
rough and cruel towards the Irish, and from the first 
regarded them as an inferior and conquered race. 

The Irish chiefs, in many parts of the country, 
found themselves forced to submit sullenly to the 
The Irish superior prowess of the English settlers, 
chiefs. They were forced to see the most fertile 

domains held and cultivated by the foreigners, and 
to be content with the less productive lands in the 
remoter districts. But there can be no doubt that, 
while they thus submitted, the Irish, whether chiefs 
or peasants, fostered a deep-seated hatred of the 
English, and seized every opportunity to attack them, 
and to rise in revolt against their rule. When a child 
or a woman came into possession of lands, the fierce 
Irish chiefs would seize the domain, and stoutly de- 
fend it against assault. But in course of time the 
English barons, perceiving that they could not hope 
for aid from England, and becoming accustomed to 
Mingling of an isolated life in Ireland, began to mingle 
the races. more freely with the native Irish. Their 
customs and manners began to change, and to adapt 
themselves to those of the natives. They began to 
receive the Irish into their castles as servants, and 



THE BRUGES IN IRELAND. 79 

to employ them as soldiers in military enterprises. 
They formed alliances, sometimes, with the Irish 
chiefs, in their conflicts with their English rivals. 

By and by this curious change in the English be- 
came very marked. They mingled with the Irish to 
such an extent that they were fast becoming absorbed 
by the native race. They allowed their hair to grow 
long, and wore heavy, sweeping mustaches, like the 
Irish chiefs. They assumed the Irish costumes, 
adopted the Irish festivals and amusements, and even, 
in some cases, allowed themselves to be governed by 
the ancient Irish laws. They married the intermar- 
daughters of Irish chiefs, and gave to the ria g es - 
Irish chiefs their own daughters in wedlock. Even 
scions of the great family of Desmond took to them- 
selves Irish wives, and in this way encouraged a fusion 
of the two races. Thus, in many parts of the country, 
the contentions between the natives and the settlers 
became less bitter. The English barons desired no 
longer to be the garrison of the English crown in 
Ireland, but independent Irish chiefs, with despotic 
power over their domains. It began to be said in 
England, that the English in Ireland were getting to 
be "more Irish than the Irish themselves." 

At last the English sovereign became thoroughly 
alarmed at this state of things. He began to fear 
lest his power over Ireland should entirely disappear. 
He was displeased to see the English barons in Ire- 
land acting as if they were its independent lords, — 
as if they were no longer bound by any allegiance to 



80 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

him as their king. He dreaded the fusion of the 
two races in Ireland into one, which would resist his 
rule.-^ Towards the close of the thirteenth century, 
Edward the therefore, the English king, Edward the 
First's law. I"i rs t, caused his Parliament to make a law, 
which was intended to revive all the old hatred be- 
tween the English in Ireland and the natives, and to 
sever the close social connection which had grown 
up between them. This law (1295) compelled the 
barons who had given up their lands to the natives 
to recover them ; decreed that the English owners 
of Irish land who lived in England should contribute 
a part of their incomes for maintaining the army ; 
restricted the number of Irish soldiers to be em- 
ployed by the barons ; and forbade the English to 
wear the Irish dress, and form of beard. But this 
law did not at once have the desired effect. 

The defeat of the English king, Edward the Sec- 
ond, at Bannockburn in Scotland (13 14), was a signal 
for the native Irish to make a desperate attempt to 
recover their country. The victor at Bannockburn 
was the heroic Robert Bruce. Bruce was already 
known to the Irish, as he had once taken refuge 
among them. The Irish, moreover, had always had 
sympathy with their kinsmen, the Scots, in their long 
and obstinate struggle with the English. When the 
„ ,„ . Scots triumphed at Bannockburn, there- 

Revolt of >■ ' 

Donald fore, the Irish not only rejoiced, but re- 

solved in their turn to resist the English. 
The great Ulster chief, Donald O'Neil, led the 



THE BRUCES IN IRELAND. 51 

revolt. He sent to Scotland, and invited Edward 
Bruce, Robert's brother, and no less valiant in war 
than Robert, to come and head the Irish patriots. 
Edward Bruce promptly responded to the summons 
He crossed over from Scotland with a company of 
hardy Scottish knights and six thousand soldiers. 
He was speedily joined by O'Neil near Glenarm, 
and soon after by Felim O'Connor, king of Con- 
naught. At the head of the English forces was 
the redoubtable De Burgh, earl of Ulster. 

The news of the landing of Bruce spread swiftly 
through Ireland. O'Donnell, lord of Tyrconnel, took 
and plundered Sligo, and the country Edward 
round about that town. The lord of Tho- Bruce in 
mond put himself at the head of his im- 
patient clans, and the lesser chiefs of the south and 
east hastened to take up arms. The contagion of 
revolt spread even to some of the English barons 
themselves. The De Lacys, lords of Meath, joined 
hands with the native chiefs. A series of obstinate 
conflicts, with varying fortune, ensued. Edward 
Bruce was crowned king of Ireland at Dundalk, 
by the native princes ; but he was forced to fight 
desperately for his new crown, and was doomed at 
last to defeat and death. He was first forced to 
retreat into Ulster by the greatly superior army of 
De Burgh. Then the tide for a while . • , , 

fc> Arrival of 

turned. De Burgh was obliged to re- Robert 

treat ; and Bruce, with the allied chiefs, 

swept down through Meath. Robert Bruce came 



$2 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

with a large Scottish force, to his brother's succor ; 
and their arms were carried to the very walls of 
Dublin. 

But Robert Bruce was soon compelled to return to 
defend his own kingdom of Scotland ; and, from the 
time of his departure, Edward's fortunes began to 
wane. The Geraldines gathered together an army 
of thirty thousand men. Dublin was put in a state 
of defence. Sir John de Bermingham, at the head of 
a well-equipped force, pushed forward to meet 
Bruce, and confronted him at Dundalk. There a 
brief but bitter struggle took place. The Irish and 
their Scottish allies were completely defeated ; and 
Death of Ed- the brave Edward Bruce fell dead in the 
ward Bruce. m } c } s t f his discomfited warriors. The re- 
volt was at last suppressed. But no aid had come 
from England to the English barons ; and the con- 
flict had, on the whole, been disastrous to English 
ascendancy. The limits of English rule shrank, and 
the Irish entered upon many domains which the 
English deserted. Large numbers of the English 
farmers left the country altogether. The English 
barons not only abandoned their allegiance to the 
English crown, but became more than ever Irish in 
their habits and tendencies, and even here and there 
abandoned their Norman for Irish names. 

Thus it came about that, early in the reign of 
Edward the Third, the dominion of the English in 
Ireland was reduced to much smaller dimensions 
than it had once held. Ulster had never been wholly 



THE BRUCES IN IRELAND. 8$ 

conquered. Minister was by no means under the 
complete control of the Geralclines. Connaught was 
in a state of insurrection. The English The English 
Pale had dwindled to the region imme- Pale - 
diately around Dublin. The fortified towns, and the 
domains of the earls of Kildare and Ormond, were 
nearly all the places outside the Pale which were 
still securely held by the English. At least one-half 
of the ancient royal province of Meath was in pos- 
session of the Irish chiefs. Edward the Third, like 
his grandfather, tried, as we shall see in the next 
chapter, to recover at least the allegiance of the 
English in Ireland. But he does not seem to have 
thought it possible to subdue the whole island to his 
rule. More than a century was yet to elapse before 
an English monarch would again attempt the con- 
quest of all Ireland. 



84 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



CHAPTER XII. 

RICHARD THE SECOND IN IRELAND. 

I^DWARD THE THIRD made two attempts dur- 
-j ing his busy reign, to restore the fast-waning 
power of the English crown in Ireland. He tried to 
„ . curb the influence and ambition of the great 

Attempts to ° 

recover ire- barons, sometimes by throwing them into 
prison and taking away their estates, and 
sometimes by according them favors. The carl of 
Desmond was kept for more than a year a prisoner 
in Dublin castle, and a part of his land was taken 
from him. Desmond resisted the king's designs, and 
gathered about him so formidable an array of lords 
and bishops, that Edward, for the while, gave up his 
efforts in Ireland. Later, however, the English king 
made a second attempt to restore his sway in Ireland. 
He filled all the Irish offices with courtiers and favor- 
ites whom he sent from London, and declared that no 
man of Irish birth should hold any office or any mili- 
tary command in the country. He called the English 
in Ireland "rebels," and the native Irish "enemies." 
He then sent one of his sons, Lionel, duke of Clar- 
ence, over to Ireland as viceroy. 



RICHARD THE SECOND IN IRELAND. 85 

Clarence carried matters with a high hand. He 
showed little respect either to the English or the 
Irish. He treated one and all with stern severity. 
He summoned an Irish parliament to meet him at 
Kilkenny (1367), and caused it to pass a The law of 
very stringent law. This law much re- Kilkenn y- 
sembled that which had been passed by Edward the 
First. It forbade, under heavy penalties, marriages 
between the English colonists and the native Irish. 
It prohibited the English from acting as foster- 
parents or as sponsors to Irish children. It declared 
that every Englishman who wore the Irish dress, or 
used the Irish language, or adopted Irish customs, 
should be compelled to give up his lands. It shut 
Irishmen out of the priesthood and the English mon- 
asteries. It proscribed the Irish bards, and forbade 
the English to receive the bards in their households. 
By its provisions, Englishmen who wore a long 
mustache, or rode horseback without saddles after 
the Irish fashion, were to be severely punished. So, 
likewise, Englishmen who submitted to the ancient 
Irish, or Brehon, laws, were condemned to pay heavy 
fines. 

But this harsh law was never carried fully into 
' effect. The king's officers in Ireland were not strong- 
enough to enforce its execution. Edward himself 
was busy with his wars in France ; and at the end of 
his reign, the native Irish had confined the limits of 
English occupation within even narrower bounds than 
before. Richard the Second, who succeeded the third 



86 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Edward on the English throne, was young and full 
of ambition. He craved dominion and military fame. 
D - u j .u Finding that the power of the crown in 

Richard the & L 

second in Ireland was at its lowest ebb, he resolved 
to make a vigorous effort to increase it. 
He landed at Waterford at the head of a formidable 
army, comprising no less than thirty thousand arch- 
ers and four thousand men-at-arms. This was a very 
large military force for those days ; and it is no won- 
der that Richard's arrival, with such an array, struck 
awe into the hearts of even the stoutest Irish chiefs. 
Richard's purpose was to subdue the native Irish, 
and to win the allegiance of the English colonists. 

The arrival of the fleet at Waterford, the royal 
galley being conspicuous in its midst with its bright 
banners and gilded pennons, filled the people with 
wonder, mingled with terror. With Richard came 
an imposing array of great English princes and 
nobles. The king's uncle, the duke of Gloucester, 
Roger Mortimer, earl of March (heir to the throne), 
lord Thomas Percy, the earls of Nottingham and 
Rutland, with their brilliant retinues, swelled the 
Richard royal train. Richard repaired to Water- 
advances to ford cathedral, where mass was performed 
with stately pomp ; and for a week the 
town witnessed a series of gay and costly festivities. 
The king sent presents to the neighboring churches, 
and welcomed the English lords who lived in the 
country roundabout. Then, with standards flying, 
he took up his march through Kilkenny towards 



RICHARD THE SECOND IN IRELAND. S? 

Dublin. As he advanced, the English lords, and 
some of the Irish chiefs, joined his army and pro- 
ceeded with him to the capital. 

Richard entered Dublin, whither he summoned the 
Irish princes and chiefs to come and do him homage. 
The summons was promptly obeyed, even by the 
unconquered chiefs of the north. O'Neil, „ . 

1 Submission 

still the most powerful of the Ulster of the Irish 
chiefs, O'Brien and O'Connor from the 
west, and McMurrough of Leinster, attended the 
royal court, with nearly a hundred others. Richard 
feasted and flattered them, and in return they swore 
fealty to his crown. At the same time, he granted 
an amnesty to the English who had acted as if they 
were independent of his crown, and made an ener- 
getic effort to put the government of Ireland upon a 
sounder basis. It seemed as if Ireland had at last 
come completely under the power of the English 
king. In the midst of his task, however, Richard 
was compelled to return to London, where the Lol- 
lards (followers of Wycliffe, the religious reformer) 
were creating trouble. He left Ireland, fully per- 
suaded that he had secured his sway over th« coun- 
try. He appointed his cousin, Roger Mortimer, who 
was also his chosen heir, to act as viceroy. 

No sooner was Richard's back turned, however, 
than the Irish chiefs discarded their al- .. .. 

McMur- 

legiance. McMurrough, who was deeply rough's 

enraged against the English, and was 

perhaps the most intrepid Irish warrior of his day, 



88 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

broke into open revolt. He defeated Richard's sol- 
diers at Kells, and seized several strongholds. In the 
course of the conflict, Roger Mortimer himself was 
killed. Richard heard the news of McMurrough's 
rising with anger and alarm. He quickly assembled 
another great army and a fleet, and once more landed 
in Ireland (mqq). McMur rough was not 

Richard v JJJi o 

returns to strong enough to meet the king's forces 
face to face ; so he plunged into the forests 
and bogs, and engaged in an irregular guerilla war- 
fare. In his knowledge of the country, he had a 
great advantage over the king and his well-trained 
soldiers. McMurrough's sallies persistently worried 
and wearied the royal troops, who could nowhere find 
the Irish, so as to fight them in the open. Hunger 
added to the distress of the royal troops, and it was 
with great difficulty that Richard managed to lead 
his disheartened and diminished force to Dublin. 
So reduced by hunger were his men, that they 
"rushed into the sea, as eagerly as they would into 
their straw." 

Events took place in England which probably 
saved Ireland from a desolating war, and perhaps 
from complete conquest. Henry of Bolingbroke, 
Richard's cousin, landed on the English coast, 
Deposition with the avowed intent to depose Richard 
of Richard. f rorr , the throne. Once more the king 
was obliged to quit Ireland in all haste ; and soon the 
news came back, that Richard had been taken pris- 
oner, that his crown had been taken from him, and 



RICHARD THE SECOND IN IRELAND. 89 

that Bolingbroke was reigning in his place, as Henry 
the Fourth. Ireland was now left to herself for a 
long period. Henry the Fourth had as much as he 
could do to maintain himself upon the throne he had 
conquered. Henry the Fifth's short reign was almost 
wholly absorbed by the brilliant war he carried on 
with the French. The longer reign of his son, 
Henry the Sixth, was occupied by the bitter and 
bloody "Wars of the Roses." Again the wars of the 
English colonists were forced to protect Roses - 
themselves, unaided by the mother-country. The 
Pale, confined to Dublin, and small portions of out- 
lying districts in Louth, Kildare, and Meath, was 
protected by fortifications. Little English colonies 
huddled, with fear and trembling, in seaside strong- 
holds like Waterford and Wexford. Even great 
nobles like the earl of Desmond were unable to go 
far from their domains, lest the native Irish should 
fall upon them and destroy them. 

Thus, during the fifteenth century, the position of 
the English in Ireland grew ever weaker. Towards 
its close, the garrison of Dublin and of _ ,. 

Decline of 

the Pale had become reduced to less than English 
two hundred regular soldiers, while the power - 
government had grown miserably poor. The colo- 
nists themselves were forced to combine in voluntary 
bands, in order to protect their families and homes 
from the attacks of the native Irish. Now and then, 
attempts would be made to enforce the law which 
Clarence had caused to be made at Kilkenny ; and, 



90 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

in the reign of Henry the Sixth, even harsher laws 

than that of Kilkenny, directed against the native 

Irish, were proclaimed. One of these was, 

Harsh laws. ... 

that an Englishman who killed an Irish- 
man who was on the way to or from a pillaging expe- 
dition, should be not only acquitted., but paid for the 
deed. In addition to such laws, the English colonists 
were permitted to practise a custom which bore very 
grievously upon the Irish. This was the custom 
called " coyne and livery." It meant that English 
soldiers could be quartered free, at any time, in the 
households of the natives. Thus the peace of Irish 
homes could be disturbed suddenly by the intrusion 
of rude foreigners, who tyrannized over the families, 
occupied the best rooms, consumed the provisions, 
and stalled their horses in the barns. 

Other severe laws, intended to oppress the native 
Irish, and to separate them by as wide a gulf as pos- 
sible from the English settlers, were passed in the 
time of Henry the Sixth. Every man 

Suppression J ■> 

of Irish who did not shave his upper lip at least 

once a fortnight, was to be heavily fined 
and imprisoned. It was declared a crime even v to 
trade with the natives, and the natives who traded 
with the English were denounced as '"'enemies of 
the king." All the Irish, too, who dwelt within the 
Pale were forced to take English names, speak the 
English language, wear the English garb, and shave 
themselves as the English did. But these harsh 
laws could not always be enforced. The English had 



RICHARD THE SECOND IN IRELAND. 91 

as much as they could do to maintain themselves in 
Ireland at all. So weak did their government become 
towards the close of the fifteenth century, that they 
were forced to pay sums of money to the Irish chiefs 
as a ransom for their safety. This was done, not 
only by the Pale, but by isolated strongholds like 
Waterford and Wexford. 

The laws made by the English kings, however, 
brought about one result which they wished. The 
two races who lived side by side in Ireland „ 

J Estrange- 

became estranged and bitterly hostile to mem of the 
each other. When there was peace be- 
tween them, it was merely an armed truce. The 
Irish did not hesitate to plunder the English, and 
seize upon their lands, whenever and wherever they 
could. The English, on the other hand, subjected 
the Irish who fell into their hands to ruthless 
cruelty. The two peoples would not even worship 
in the same churches, although their religion was the 
same. Each race had its own churches The two 
and monasteries. The English land-own- churche s- 
ers built chapels within their domain, in which Eng- 
lish or French priests officiated. Whenever the 
Irish could do so in safety, they attended the minis- 
trations of Irish priests. Yet, in spite of all the 
dissensions between the two races, we find both 
Anglo-Irish and native Irish taking part, side by 
side, in the Wars of the Roses in Eng- i ris h soldiers 
land. The Geraldines fought for the white in En ^ and - 
rose, or the house of York, and the Ormonds sided 



92 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

with the red rose, or the house of Lancaster ; while 
many other Irish chiefs were to be found, from time 
to time, among the contending hosts. 

In the events which have been narrated in the last 
five chapters, may be traced the beginning of the 
condition of things which has made Ireland, for seven 
centuries, a land of unhappy memories, of almost con- 
stant miseries, and of deep and lasting discontent. 
When the English, by superior force of arms, planted 
seizures of themselves on Irish soil ; when they seized 
insh land. U p n the fruitful lands of the people ; 
when they replaced the ancient Irish custom of land- 
holding, by the feudal system ; when they substituted 
English law for the old Brehon law, — they laid the 
foundation of all the evils which have since befallen 
Ireland, and of all the tyranny, which, almost down 
to our own time, marked the English rule over 
the island. At the close of the fifteenth century, the 
English colonies seemed on the very verge of extinc- 
tion. But, early in the sixteenth century, the power 
of the English crown was once more sternly put 
forth to subject all Ireland to its authority. 



CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE. 93 



CHAPTER XIII. 

CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE. 

IRISH history, during the period included between 
the invasion of the Normans, or English, and the 
close of the Wars of the Roses, — that is, between 
1 169 and 1485, — takes little account of the common 
people. We only know of them that they The common 
were, to a large degree, peasants, living in P e °P le - 
wretched huts, tilling the soil, and tending the herds 
and flocks ; reduced, oftentimes, to beggary, and 
wandering along the roads pleading for alms. It is 
said that the slave-trade was abolished by a church 
council at Armagh, towards the close of the twelfth 
century. But it is probable that the holding of slaves 
in Ireland, as laborers and domestics, continued for a 
long period after that time. In the thirteenth cen- 
tury, there were two classes of farmers in i r j S h 
Ireland. One class, called the "biataghs," farmers - 
held the lands they cultivated free of rent, on con- 
dition that they lodged and fed travellers, and re- 
ceived the soldiers of the chiefs when they were on 
the march. The other and lower class was that of 
the "brooees," who both paid rent and were subject 



94 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

to be called upon for military service. The brooee, 
moreover, was obliged to keep at least a hundred 
laborers, and a hundred of every species of domestic 
animals, on his farm. 

Many of the ancient Irish habits and customs still 
lingered in the fifteenth century. The bards, poets, 
and minstrels, though they had been persecuted at 
intervals, and were even forbidden, by the English 
law, to enter the houses of the people, retained their 
hold tenaciously upon the popular affection and ven- 
eration. They were favored in many ways by the 
princes and chiefs. They held seats of 

The bards. { , ■ , 

honor at the leasts, and received presents, 
often of great value. One bard, it is related, received 
from king Brian, as a reward for one of his poems, 
gold and clothing and twenty cows. Another re- 
ceived "twenty horned cows," and "the blessing of 
the king of Erin." In course of time, indeed, the 
bards and poets became more subject to the will of 
the chiefs than they once had been. But their office 
continued to be an hereditary one, descending" from 
father to son ; and many of them held large estates, 
and lived lives of dignity and ease. The singing of 
the bards, and the recitation by the poets of verses 
celebrating the deeds of heroes, was a conspicuous 
feature of Irish life even under English rule. 

Both the bards and the native judges (Brehons) were 
still regarded as sacred in their persons. The curse 
of the bard of Usnagh was believed to have cost Sir 
John Stanley his life. The murder of a Brehon judge 



CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEOTLE. 95 

by Irial O'Farrell was avenged, it was said among 
the people, by the long series of misfor- The Brehon 
tunes which befell the murderer's children. i ud e es - 
The bards continued to be under the special protection 
of the chiefs. An O'Neil, who gave many presents 
to the bards, and had the largest collection of poems 
in Ireland, is specially named and praised in the 
chronicles of his time. The love of learning had 
never been extinguished among the Irish, even by 
the repeated ravages of war, or the desperate strug- 
gles against foreign conquest. Whenever there was 
a lull in these storms of conflict, Irish scholarship 
revived. In the thirteenth century the famous Fran- 
ciscan and Dominican friars, who brought about a 
great religious revival in England, extended their 
labors to Ireland also ; and at the end of that century, 
had established fifty or sixty monasteries of their 
orders in Ireland. 

These monasteries became places of asylum to 
the Irish scholars, whither they could retreat from the 
turmoils of the civil commotions. They The 
gave to the scholars, moreover, another monasteries - 
advantage besides that of studying in safety and 
quiet. The Dominicans and Franciscans had similar 
monasteries, which were not less seats of learning 
than religious houses, scattered through the Euro- 
pean cities. A student who had attached himself to 
one of the monasteries was freely admitted into any 
of the others. So it was that Irish scholars, some- 
times in great numbers, were found pursuing their 



95 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

studies in England, Paris, Naples, and other foreign 
places. Some of them became very noted for their 
profound learning. One was a professor at Oxford 
in the reign of Edward the Second. Another, John 
Irish men of Scotus of Down, was famous in the schools 
learning. Q f p ar j s anc i Cologne for the extent of his 
scholarly accomplishments. In the latter part of the 
thirteenth century, there was a large number of Irish 
students in the Oxford colleges. 

The Irish had not lost, in the lapse of time, those 
attractive traits of hospitality, of respect for women, 
and of social cheer, which they are known to have 
possessed even in the remote age of the Druids. 
These were always, and are still, prominent charac- 
teristics of the Irish race. They made freely 
welcome visitors of all ranks and of every social 
grade. The freest and most bountiful hospitality 
marked the homes of the princes and chiefs ; and 
even the lowest class of the Irish lavished such 
humble good-cheer as they could afford upon their 
guests. Henry O'Neil is said to have "given every- 
thing that came into his hands to all manner of 
men." It is related of one of the great chiefs of the 
i r i S h O'Kellys, that he invited all the bards, 

generosity, poets, and even poor people, who chose to 
come, to abide with him throughout the Christmas 
holidays ; and feasted them every day in quite royal 
fashion. A rich dame of rank, Margaret O'Carroll, 
twice a year opened her house to all the bards and 
poets, both of England and of Ireland, who would 



CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE. 97 

accept her lavish hospitalities. A violation of hos- 
pitality was always regarded by the Irish as an 
odious action ; and he who showed inhospitality 
was doomed to the scorn of his neighbors for the 
rest of his life. 

The respect of the Irish for women, and their 
chivalrous protection of them, are to be seen in all 
periods of their career. The wife retained Respect for 
her maiden name, adding to it that of her women - 
husband. If she were of equal rank with her hus- 
band, she shared his authority equally with him, and 
he was in no sense her master. The Irish women, 
indeed, often took part in public affairs ; and the 
names of many of them have come down in history. 
We find Margaret O'Carroll celebrated, not only for 
her great hospitality, but for her energy and active 
piety. She exchanged prisoners in the wars, herself 
conducting them from place to place, and that "with- 
out the knowledge of her husband." She built roads, 
bridges, and churches, and gave to the churches 
many books and ornaments. Another famous Irish 
dame was Margaret Fitzgerald, wife of Margaret 
the earl of Ormond. . She is said to have Fitz e erald - 
been "a lady of such port, that all the estates of the 
realm couched to her ; and so politic, that nothing was 
thought fully debated without her counsel." When 
she was dying, and the priest urged her to restore 
some lands which she had unjustly seized, threaten- 
ing her with eternal punishment if she refused, she 
grimly replied, that " it was better that one old 



98 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

woman should burn for eternity, than that the But- 
lers (earls of Ormond) should be curtailed of their 
estates." 

The Irish chiefs of the fifteenth century usually 
lived in frame-houses on a well fortified island, or on 
some jutting peninsula which projected into a lake, 
so that the water formed for them a natural defence. 
Some of the greater chiefs, however, imitated the 
English lords, and built strong castles of stone, in 
which they dwelt in a rude sort of state. High walls 
surrounded these castles, within which were built the 
stables, as well as cottages for the chief's immediate 
retinue and servants. Each castle, too, had its open 
castie and space, or "green." Sometimes this was 
hamiet. outside, and sometimes within, the castle 

walls. The green was often the scene of merry- 
making, of boisterous pastimes and athletic contests. 
The Irish, like the English, have always been fond 
of sturdy out-of-door sports. At stated periods of 
the year, several clans would gather at one of the 
castles ; and chiefs and vassals would witness, to- 
gether, the trials of strength which took place on the 
green between the rival clansmen. 

The Irish of the fifteenth century were, perhaps, 
scarcely less superstitious than were those of the fifth. 
They were quick to believe in omens, portents, and 
signs ; and many proverbs interpreting the freaks of 
nature, or happenings among the people, were extant. 
They believed in ghosts and ghostly legends, and were 
intensely moved by the weird tales of haunted places, 



CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE. 99 

and of strange events, sung to them by the bards. 
But the superstition of the early Irish supersti- 
rarely showed itself in cruel forms. They tIons - 
did not, like the English, doom supposed witches to 
barbarous methods of persecution. There seems 
good reason to believe that the fear and the severe 
punishment of witchcraft were introduced into Ire- 
land by the English settlers. The first example of 
such a persecution in Ireland occurred early in the 
fourteenth century, when Lady Alice Kettel and her 
son were accused of " black magic." They were, 
however, found not guilty, and released. In later 
times, so-called witches were condemned in Ireland, 
but usually by the English. 

Although the religion of the Irish and of the Eng- 
lish was the same, the two churches were not united 
in Ireland. The bishops in the districts The Irish 
still held by the Irish were, as of old, bish °P s - 
chosen by the election of the clergy. But the Irish 
church had long submitted to the power of the pope ; 
and, as each bishop was elected, he was careful to 
receive the pope's sanction before he entered upon 
the duties of his sacred office. The bishops of those 
parts of Ireland held by the English, on the other 
hand, were named by the English sovereigns, who, 
through several reigns, had denied the right of the 
pope to appoint or confirm bishops in England. In- 
deed, the English Parliament had passed severe laws, 
punishing those priests, who, whether in England 
or in Ireland, claimed to act under an appointment 



IOO YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

from the pope. In the border districts, where neither 
Irish nor English had full control, such as Meath 
and Louth, there were often two rival bishops, one 
deriving his office from election by the clergy with 
the papal sanction, and the other from the appoint- 
ment of the English crown. The bishops of Dublin, 
Cork, Waterford, and Limerick, were the nominees 
of the crown ; those of Ulster, Connaught, and part 
of Minister, were the elect of the native clergy. 
Constant conflicts arose, therefore, between the two 
churches. Hatreds and jealousies grew up ; and, in 
spite of many attempts to reconcile them, their dis- 
sensions long crippled the religious usefulness of 
both. 

Ireland was not only rent, during the fifteenth 
century, by the conflicts between the two races, but 
was also the frequent scene of bitter family feuds, 
Family and petty wars between clan and clan, 

feuds. Acts of violence, fierce revenges and re- 

taliations, were of very frequent occurrence. The 
Irishman always carried his battle-axe with him, not 
only when he traversed the lonely roads, but also 
when he went to mass, on a hunting expedition, or to 
a gay festival. He was quick to fight, and fought 
ferociously. But it must also be said, that assassina- 
tion and treachery were not conspicuous among the 
crimes of the Irish at that period. A 

Crimes. 

poisoner, or secret murderer, was looked 
upon with horror by the people, who treated him as 
an outcast ; while the man who slew his enemy in 



CONDITION OF THE FRISH PEOPLE. IOI 

open fight was held in honor. Some of the punish- 
ments imposed upon criminals or enemies, indeed, 
were barbarously cruel. They were sometimes 
maimed in limbs, and their eyes were sometimes put 
out. But, in this respect, the Irishman was neither 
worse nor better than other races in that dark age. 



102 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE IRISH PARLIAMENT. 

THE Wars of the Roses had come to a close. 
Henry the Seventh, the first of the strong-willed 
line of the Tudor sovereigns, sat upon the English 
throne (1485). By his marriage with Elizabeth of 
Union of the York, he had united the two houses of 
Roses. York and Lancaster, which had so long 

struggled with each other for supremacy. It seemed 
as if Henry would have a long and undisputed reign. 
Ireland had for years been left to herself, so entirely 
had the attention of the English kings been diverted 
from her, first by the wars with France, and then by 
the protracted civil conflict. Henry was a stern, 
determined man, who was fully resolved to rule with 
an iron hand. In the earlier part of his reign, how- 
ever, he scarcely thought of Ireland. The earl of 
Kildare, the head of one of the branches of the pow- 
Geraidine of erful Geraldines, was governor of Ireland 
Kiidare. at the time of Henry's accession ; and, 

although he had been a partisan of the Yorkists, 
Henry's enemies, Henry allowed Kildare to remain 
in his office. Kildare, besides being a very powerful 



THE IRISH PARLIAMENT. IO3 

lord, had a great deal of influence with the native 
clans ; and, for this reason, the new king thought it 
wise not to disturb him. 

But in no long time an event occurred which drew 
Henry's attention to Ireland. His enemies sought 
to make Ireland a point from whence to assail his 
hold on the English crown. The Yorkist heir to 
the crown was Edward, earl of Warwick, who had 
been kept for some time a close prisoner in the Tower 
of London. Suddenly an English priest arrived in 
Dublin, bringing with him a handsome youth with 
attractive manners, whom he declared to be no other 
than the earl of Warwick. Henry's enemies promptly 
espoused the cause of the pretended Warwick, who 
was really an impostor, and whose true name was 
Lambert Simnel. He was the son of an , 

Lambert 

English shoemaker. Nevertheless, the simnei in 
earl of Kildare himself, and many of Ireland - 
the nobles and chiefs in Ireland, both English and 
Irish, recognized Simnel as the rightful king of Eng- 
land ; and Simnel was solemnly crowned in Christ- 
church cathedral, Dublin, by the bishop of Meath. 
His partisans, emboldened by this event, lost no time 
in preparing to make good his claim in England. 

The French duchess of Burgundy, who was a 
bitter foe of Henry, sent a fleet, with two thousand 
veteran soldiers, to the pretender's aid. The com- 
bined forces of French and Irish, with many English 
Yorkists, in all about eight thousand, landed on the 
Lancashire coast, and boldly marched into Yorkshire. 



104 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Thence they moved southward, and were confronted 
by Henry and his army near Newark. After an 
Defeat of the obstinate battle, Henry was victorious, 
pretender. T^e earl of Lincoln, two of the Geral- 
dines, and Sir Thomas Broughton, on the pretender's 
side, were killed ; and Lambert Simnel himself was 
taken prisoner. The king treated his defeated ene- 
mies with singular leniency. He pardoned Simnel, 
who afterwards became a servant in the royal kitchen ; 
and, what is still more strange, he permitted the earl 
of Kildare to continue as governor of Ireland in 
spite of his treason. As for the rest of the survivors 
of the expedition, they were allowed to go free, no 
punishment being inflicted upon them. 

The failure of Simnel's attempt did not wholly 
discourage those who wished to drive Henry from 
the English throne. Five years afterwards, another 
Perkin pretender, Perkin Warbeck, who claimed 

warbeck. t0 ^ e t j ie ^uke of York, son of Edward 
the Fourth, and one of the princes who were sup- 
posed to have been murdered in the Tower of London, 
landed in Ireland. He, too, was supported by the 
duchess of Burgundy, and was also encouraged by 
the French king. His first visit to Ireland produced 
no result ; but a few years later, after many adven- 
tures, he again made his appearance on Irish soil. 
He was now joined by the great earl of Desmond, 
of the Geraldine family, and by many of the Irish 
and English of Cork. He laid siege to Waterford, 
but was forced to give up the attempt to take that 



THE IRISH PARLIAMENT. IO5 

town'. Then Desmond deserted him, and Warbeck 
retreated to Scotland. He was at last capture of 
captured by Henry's adherents, and exe- Warbeck - 
cuted (1499). Desmond sought and obtained the 
king's pardon, and remained as powerful as ever on 
his domain. But Kildare, his kinsman, was not let 
off so easily. He was thrown into prison in England, 
and his wife died of the terror caused by the fear 
that he might be executed. 

The Irish Parliament had originally comprised an as- 
sembly of the lords, bishops, and the principal English 
landlords, who were summoned to register The Irish 
the king's commands, to consult about the Parliament - 
raising of money, and to advise the king concerning 
the affairs of the island ; and its rise had taken place 
soon after the first intrusion of the English. In the 
thirteenth century, members, called " knights of the 
shire," representing the counties, took their seats in 
Parliament ; and, towards the close of the same century, 
" burgesses," representing the towns, were admitted 
to its sessions. Parliament was summoned to meet by 
the king's representative in Ireland, sometimes fre- 
quently, and sometimes at rare intervals. There was 
no stated time for it to assemble. It generally met at 
Dublin ; but now and then it was called upon to meet 
at Kilkenny, or at Drogheda. At some periods, there 
seem to have been at least two parliaments in Ireland. 
One, composed of the lords, bishops, and commons of 
Leinster, met at the same time that another, similarly 
composed, was sitting in Munster. 



106 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

For a long time the Irish Parliament had been 
subject to the powerful influence of the earl of 
Power of Kildare and a few other great Anglo-Irish 
Kiidare. lords. It had by no means been obedient 

to the English crown. On one occasion, it ventured 
to choose a viceroy or governor, instead of the one 
who had been appointed by the king. On another, it 
declared boldly that Ireland was only bound to obey 
the laws of the Irish Parliament. It recognized 
Simnel as the rightful heir to the English crown, 
and abetted the Geraldines — the earls of Kildare 
and Desmond — in their rebellions. It gave protec- 
tion to the plotters against the English king, and to 
disloyal Englishmen who repaired to Ireland to escape 
capture and punishment. In the time of Henry the 
\Seventh, the Irish Parliament had somewhat changed 
its character. There were now two houses, 

Two houses. 

the upper and lower. In the upper house 
sat the lords, bishops, abbots, and priors. The lower 
house was composed of the knights of the shire and 
the burgesses. Thus the Irish Parliament, in its 
composition, now much resembled that of England. 

King Henry was at last fully aroused to the neces- 
sity of paying some attention to Ireland. He looked 
upon Ireland as a part of his dominions, yet neither 
the English settlers nor the native Irish were loyal 
to his crown. Twice had Ireland been the starting- 
points of attempts to drive him from his throne. 
He therefore sent over Sir Edward Poyning with a 
thousand soldiers, to restore, if possible, the royal 



THE IRISH PARLIAMENT. \OJ 

authority. Poyning, like his master the king, was a 
stern, resolute man. He called together the Irish 
Parliament, and caused it to re-affirm the Kilkenny 
law which had been imposed by Clarence more than 
a century before. One or two of its provisions were, 
however, omitted. Parliament was also compelled 
to pass a law, which is known in history p oy nin g 's 
as " Poyning's Law," declaring that no Law - 
Parliament should thenceforth assemble in Ireland, 
until the measures it intended to pass had been sub- 
mitted to the king and his council, and had been 
approved by them. The laws passed by the Irish 
Parliament, moreover, were to be sent to the English 
council, the members of which might alter them 
at pleasure ; and, after they had been sent back to 
Ireland thus amended, they could not be further 
changed by the Irish houses. 

These were not the only measures which the de- 
termined Poynings procured from the Irish Parlia- 
ment. The custom of " coyne and liv- Coyne and 
ery," or quartering soldiers in the houses hver y- 
of the people, was forbidden. The land-owners were 
required to live upon their estates. The freemen of 
the towns were prohibited from entering the service 
of the lords ; and it was declared treason to instigate 
the native Irish to war. These were good laws, and 
were intended to protect the people from the tyranny 
of the nobles. Poyning, moreover, caused a law to 
be passed, that the chief officials and judges should 
hold office at the king's discretion, and not, as before, 



I08 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

for life. The effect of Poyning's Law was what 
the king had intended. The Irish Parliament, often 
rebellious and never thoroughly loyal, was stripped 
of all real power, reduced to helplessness, and be- 
came merely an assembly to proclaim such laws as 
England chose that Ireland should have. Poyning 
demanded one more act of this Parliament before it 
was dissolved. This was, that it should condemn the 
The Eari of earl of Kildare, who had given Henry so 
Kiidare. much trouble, as a traitor. The pliant 

houses yielded to the demand, and then separated. 

The earl of Kildare was a very bold, audacious, 
quick-witted man. He had always held close rela- 
tions with the native Irish, and had shown himself to 
be not only an inveterate, but a formidable enemy of 
the English crown. No sooner, however, did he find 
himself Henry's prisoner, than he formed a scheme 
to recover his freedom, and to return to Ireland 
more powerful than ever. He had been charged, 
among other things, with having caused the cathedral 
of Cashel to be set on fire. To this he bluntly re- 
plied, in the presence of the king, that he would 
not have done so, if he had not supposed that the 
archbishop was inside. The archbishop was a close 
Kiidare's adherent of the earl of Ormond, Kildare's 
audacity. bitter rival. Henry was amused at this 
audacious answer, and told Kildare that he might 
choose any advocate he chose to plead his cause. "I 
fear," was Kildare's reply, "that your Highness will 
not permit me to choose the honest man I prefer." 



THE IRISH PARLIAMENT. IO9 

The king assured him that he would. "Then," said 
the earl, "I know no better man to defend me than 
your Highness's self, nor will I choose any other." 

The archbishop of Cashel and the earl of Ormond, 
who were present, cried out at this, "All Ireland 
cannot rule 'the earl of Kildare ! " Whereupon 
Henry, who had been completely won by Kildare's 
boldness, said, "Then shall he rule all Ireland." 
Kildare was not only pardoned on the spot, but was 
appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and ,,., , 

rr _ Kildare made 

received Elizabeth St. John, cousin of lordiieu- 
the king, as his second wife. He re- tenant - 
turned to Dublin armed with almost royal power. 
And now, completely changing his conduct, he be- 
came entirely devoted to the interests of the Eng- 
lish crown. His government was stronger than any 
that Ireland had seen for sixty years. He asserted 
his authority over the Anglo-Irish barons and the 
natives alike, and vigorously suppressed all resist- 
ance to his will. 

In an obstinate conflict with the clan of Burke, 
Kildare entirely overcame his enemy at the battle of 
Knockdoe (1504). In the later years of Battle of 
his rule, Kildare seems to have become Knockdoe - 
almost the absolute master of Ireland. He went 
hither and thither as he pleased in the island, sup- 
pressed and raised up chiefs, and planted his garrisons 
in many places where the English had not before 
secured a foothold. This energetic and unscrupu- 
lous lord remained in power as governor of Ireland 



IIO YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

until his death (15 17). He is described by an old 
writer, as " of tall stature and goodly presence ; very 
liberal and merciful ; of strict piety ; mild in his 
government ; passionate, but easily appeased." The 
English colony in Ireland, indeed, produced few 
abler men, few more brilliant rulers or generals, than 
Gerald, earl of Kildare. 



HENRY THE EIGHTH AND IRELAND. Ill 



CHAPTER XV. 

HENRY THE EIGHTH AND IRELAND. 

THE rule of the earl of Kildare marked the turn- 
ing point in favor of English ascendancy in 
Ireland. There were to be many and terrible strug- 
gles before the English power established full sway 
over the heroic and patriotic clans throughout the 
island ; but, from the time of Kildare, the chiefs of 
the ancient families gradually lost more and more 
their hold upon the country. Thenceforth, victory 
was to attend the effort of the English to subdue 
Ireland. When Henry the Seventh died (1509), 
leaving the throne to his despotic son, Henry the 
Eighth, the new king was even more firmly Henry the 
resolved than his father had been to fasten Ei s hth - 
the yoke of English government upon the Irish. 
But, at first, Henry the Eighth was disposed to try 
mild measures. He declared that, while the power of 
the crown should be strictly maintained in Ireland, 
he would also endeavor to win the native chiefs, by 
bestowing royal favors upon them, and securing them 
in their domains, and thus gain their allegiance. 

But soon a grave obstacle in the way of the fulfil- 



112 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

ment of Henry's plans arose, in the conduct of 
the more than ever formidable family of Kildare. 
Gerald of The great earl had left a son, Gerald, who 
Kiidare. was appointed lord-deputy in his place. 

This new earl of Kildare was hot-headed and insub- 
ordinate. The king could not rely upon his loyalty ; 
and, before he had long been in authority in Ireland, 
Kildare was charged by his rivals, the family of 
Ormond, with high treason. Three times was Kil- 
dare summoned to England to answer this charge, 
and three times was he deposed from the lord-deputy- 
ship. At last he was thrown into the Tower of 
London. His son Thomas, a youth of twenty, who, 
from the elegance of his attire, was called " Silken 
Thomas," was acting in Ireland, in his place, as vice- 
deputy. For purposes of his own, Henry caused a 
rumor to be spread in Ireland that Kildare had been 
Thomas of beheaded. This aroused Thomas to a 
Kiidare. frenzy of grief and rage. Entering the 
council chamber in St. Mary's abbey, Dublin, at the 
head of a hundred and forty retainers, he threw his 
sword of office violently upon the council table, and 
declared that he renounced his allegiance to the 
English king. 

A struggle forthwith broke out between the im- 
petuous young scion of Kildare and Henry's ad- 
herents in Ireland. Henry, prompted by his great 
minister, cardinal Wolsey, grimly made up his mind 
to crush once and for all the power of the restless 
and untrustworthy Geraldines of Kildare. Thomas of 



HENRY THE EIGHTH AND IRELAND. 113 

Kildare, on the other hand, declared war to the bitter 
end against the English. He besieged Dublin, but 
in vain. He seized the long-time enemy of his 
house, the archbishop of Cashel, and caused him to 
be murdered. He appealed to the O'Connors, the 
O' Mores, and other chiefs, to come to his aid. But 
the fiery young Geraldine soon met with a fatal 
check. The castle of Maynooth, supposed S ie ge of 
to be proof against every assault, was gar- Ma y nooth - 
risoned by Irish soldiers. It was now vigorously 
besieged by a well-disciplined English force under 
Skeffington. 

Gunpowder had recently come into use, and the 
English were armed with guns and artillery. The 
Irish had still only their ancient weapons, — swords 
and spears. The result was that the English cannon 
soon made a breach in the fortress of Maynooth, and 
that once impregnable stronghold was taken. Young 
Thomas saw that all was lost, and surrendered his 
person to the mercies of the English monarch. 
Henry promised to pardon him ; but, as soon as he 
reached London, Thomas was thrown into the Tower 
of London, where his father, the earl of Kildare, had 
recently died of a broken heart. The extinction of 
the Geraldines of Kildare was now sternly resolved 
upon, and this end was to be attained by treachery. 
The new lord-deputy of Ireland was Lord Leonard 
Gray, who had married a sister of the late earl of 
Kildare. Five of the earl's brothers were living in 
Ireland. Three of them were loyal to the English 



114 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

crown. Yet it was determined to get rid of them 
all. 

Gray invited his five brothers-in-law to a great ban- 
quet, seized them as they sat at table, and caused 
them to be sent as prisoners to London. The next 
, year all five of the Geraldine brothers and 

Execution of -' 

the Gerai- Thomas, their nephew, were hanged, on 
the charge of high treason, on Tyburn Hill. 
A younger son of the late earl, however, escaped the 
fate of his brother and uncles, and in after years was 
restored to the earldom of Kildare. The effect in 
Ireland of the execution of the Geraldines was to. 
greatly increase and extend the power of the crown. 
Gray was a vigorous ruler, and lost no time in follow- 
ing up his advantage. He successively subdued 
O'Connor, the Geraldines of Minister, and finally 
capture of O'Neil. He captured Athlone, the great 
Athione. stronghold of Connaught, and reduced the 
Burkes to inaction, if not to submission (1538). 

Meanwhile, the great movement of religious refor- 
mation had begun in England. Henry the Eighth, 
bent on divorcing his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, 
and marrying Anne Boleyn, had had a rupture with 
the pope of Rome, who forbade the divorce ; and had 
declared himself to be the only head of the church 
and clergy in England. He had followed up this 
__ , . bold course by suppressing a large num- 

Henry sseiz- j ri e> » 

u.e of the ber of monasteries, and taking possession 

of their houses and lands for the crown. 

He adopted the same policy towards the Irish 



HENRY THE EIGHTH AND IRELAND. I T 5 

monasteries, which he had no fair excuse for doing. 
The Irish priests and monks had not, like many of 
those in England, become corrupt, immoral, and neg- 
lectful of their pious duties. They still zealously 
sustained religion and fostered learning. Schools 
were held within the monastery walls. The monks 
lodged travellers, were active in charities, and often 
acted as mediators between rival and quarrelsome 
chiefs. Their influence among the people was the 
best and most hopeful feature of Irish life. 

But these facts had no influence upon the despotic 
Henry. Gray, the lord-deputy of Ireland, summoned 
an Irish Parliament, and demanded that it, too, should 
declare the English king the supreme head of the 
church. His demand was strenuously resisted by 
the bishops and abbots, and by many of the lor Is; 
and they succeeded in preventing the declaration 
from being made (1537). Gray now took an arbitrary 
course. He caused Parliament to exclude the proc- 
tors from the upper House. Henry was then de- 
clared the sole head of the Irish Church 
More than four hundred monasteries and declared the 
abbeys were suppressed, and their prop sole h ead ° f 
erties were confiscated to the English 
crown. If the abbot of one of the suppressed mon- 
asteries resisted, he was thrown into prison. The 
edict was carried out by force. Those abbots and 
monks who peacefully submitted to it, and went 
quietly away, were granted small sums of money, 
and, in some cases, annual stipends. 



Il6 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Thus Gray, during the two years of his severe and 
energetic rule, had not only subdued the Irish Parlia- 
ment, but the church also, to the power of the crown. 
Ireland had not been so tranquil, as now, for many 
generations. Never had she so felt the iron hand of 
the oppressing race. The English Pale 

Increase of ' l ° ° 

English had been enlarged ; and its English occu- 

power ' pants had been strengthened, so that they 

no longer paid tributes, for their safety's sake, to the 
outlying Irish clans. Many of the native chiefs had 
given up the lands, that they might be given back to 
them by the king, in return for their sworn loyalty 
to the crown ; and such chiefs were protected by the 
lord-deputy, and accepted the English instead of the 
old Brehon law. They could thereby sell their land, 
compel the tenants to pay rent for it, and bequeath 
it to their children. The land was no longer, as 
formerly, the common property of the tribe. 

Having thus imposed his authority on the English 
settlers and on a number of the Irish chiefs, aid 
asserted his ability to maintain his dominion in I 'e- 
land, Henry the Eighth entered upon a course of 
conciliation. Many of the greater native princes 
and chiefs still held aloof. St. Leger, who succeeded 
Gray as lord-deputy, undertook the task of winning 
them over. In no long time, the king had seemed 
Allegiance of the allegiance of the O'Mores, the O'Con- 
the chiefs. norSj the O'Melaghlins, the O'Carrolls, the 
O'Tooles, and other chiefs of eastern Ireland. He 
had also conciliated the earl of Desmond, the head 



HENRY THE EIGHTH AND IRELAND. WJ 

of the Minister branch of the Geraldines, and Mc- 
William, earl of Clanricarde, — two great English 
lords who had been hostile. St. Leger called Parlia- 
ment together, in which, for the first time in the 
history of Ireland, English lords and Irish chiefs 
sat side by side. This Parliament con- 

Henry recog- 

firmecl Henry as the sole head of the nizedasKing 
Church, and recognized him as " king of of Ireland - 
Ireland." Before that time, the English kings had 
always been known as "lords of Ireland." 

These acts were followed by a series of brilliant 
festivities in Dublin. The hilltops glowed with bon- 
fires ; the cannon roared from the castle ; an amnesty 
of all prisoners was proclaimed. Henry hastened to 
bind more closely the allegiance of the chiefs who 
had come in, by grants of land ; and some of the chiefs 
went to London to witness and be impressed by the 
splendors of Henry's royal court. Dazzled by these 
things, some of the princes, who had hitherto held 
proudly aloof, gave in their submission. Of these 
the chief were O'Brien, who received his reward by 
being created earl of Thomond ; O'Donnel _ 

& ' The chiefs 

of Ulster; and even the haughty O'Neil, created 
who accepted from the king the title of peers ' 
earl of Tyrone. Henry followed up these submis- 
sions by suppressing the monasteries in the districts 
thus added to his dominion, seizing the church lands, 
and bestowing them upon the newly conciliated chiefs. 
He also caused large sums of money to be paid to 
them, and gave to each loyal chief a house in Dublin, 



I 1 8 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

that "they might suck in civility with the air of the 
court." 

After the death of Henry the Eighth (1547), the 
protector Somerset controlled the affairs of England 
during the minority of the boy king, Edward the 
Sixth. He went much farther than Henry had done 
in trying to force the English people away from 
somerset's their ancient faith ; and the same rigorous 
severity. methods which he employed in England, 
he applied to Ireland for the same purpose. Not 
content with the suppression of the monasteries, and 
the seizing and divichng-up of their lands, Somerset, 
aided by Cranmer, sought to compel the Irish church 
to use the new Protestant liturgy, instead of the old 
Catholic one. The archbishop of Armagh, however, 
who was at the head of the Irish church, and almost 
all the priesthood, refused to accept it ; while five 
of the Anglo-Irish bishops submitted. Meanwhile 
Resistance * ne P eo l^ e > outraged by the violence com- 
to Protes- mitted upon the ancient relics, — upon 
the shrines and tombs, and the abbeys 
of theif-church, — by the soldiers of the lord-deputy, 
resisted, wherever they could, the imposition of the 
new faith. 

The accession of Mary, a Catholic, to the throne 
of England, was the signal for a pause in the attempt 
to revolutionize the Irish church. The bishops who 
had refused to accept the new liturgy were recalled 
from exile ; those who had accepted it were turned 
out of their sees, and fled for safety ; and the young 



HENRY THE EIGHTH AND IRELAND. II9 

earl of Kildare, who had stood stoutly by the ancient 
faith, was restored to his title and domains. _ . .. 

Catholic 

The Protestant prayer-book was forbidden, re-action in 

, • i • t 1 1' Ireland. 

and mass was once more said in Ireland s 
venerable cathedrals. The people were allowed to 
worship according to the faith to which they clung. 
The church lands, indeed, which had been taken 
away, and given to Englishmen, were not restored 
to their former possessors. On the contrary, Mary 
continued the practice of granting such lands to 
her courtiers and favorites. But, for a brief period, 
the Anglo-Irish and the native clans were allowed to 
worship according to the old religion in peace. 



120 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

SHANE O'NEIL. 

IT was during the long reign of Elizabeth, that 
that fierce conflict between the rival Catholic and 
Protestant churches in Ireland began, which endured, 
_ „. . . almost without pause, down to the nine- 

Conflict be- 1 ' 

tween the teenth century. It was also during her 
reign, that the system of "planting" Ire- 
land with English colonies was deliberately adopted 
as the policy of the crown, and relentlessly pursued. 
That stern and self-willed queen, inheriting all the 
despotic traits of her family, was even more resolute 
and persistent, if possible, than her father had been, 
in reducing Ireland to absolute political and religious 
subjection to English rule. But she was destined 
to experience many obstacles, and to undergo many 
mortifications, before she could attain her end. Nor 
did she ever attain her end completely. 

In spite of the submission of so many of the 
Anglo-Irish and native lords to Henry, patriotism, a 
Patriotism fierce clinging to independence, still sur- 
of the Irish. vivecl m i,- e i anc i O'Neil, O'Brien, O'Don- 
nel, and other chiefs of ancient lineage, had sold 



SHANE O NEIL. 121 

their birthright for a mess of pottage. But many 
great chiefs, as well as many lesser chiefs and the 
mass of the tribesmen, were far from subdued to 
English rule. There were leading men, too, who 
were not only dissatisfied, but were eager to lead 
revolts against the English and their Irish allies. 
Among them were the valiant young sons of O'Neil 
and O'Donnel. Especially active in his hostility to 
the recent changes was Shane O'Neil, one shane 
of the most striking figures in Irish history. °' NeiI - 
His elder half-brother, Matthew, who was an illegiti- 
mate son of the newly created earl of Tyrone, had 
been declared the earl's heir. Shane was naturally 
outraged that an illegitimate son should be preferred 
to him, who was the earl's eldest son born in wed- 
lock. But Shane was not influenced by this feeling 
alone. He showed the same proud spirit of inde- 
pendence which had so long marked the royal race of 
O'Neil. He was bitterly angry with his father for 
humbling himself to the English king, and for stoop- 
ing to accept from him the earldom of Tyrone. 

Shane O'Neil resolved to make a desperate attempt 
to shake off the English yoke. He went among the 
native Irish, urging them to resist the foreigners. 
He caused his half-brother, the illegitimate Matthew, 
to be killed ; and he succeeded in drawing his father, 
the earl of Tyrone, away from the English side. He 
then undertook the task of preventing the English 
settlers from planting themselves in Ulster, and of 
frio;htenin£ the Ulster chiefs into submission to his 



122 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

rule. He tried hard to unite the Irish ; while Sussex, 
Revolt of the lord-lieutenant, tried as hard to sow 
Shane. dissensions among them. O'Neil sent to 

the French king for aid, but in vain. Meanwhile 
Sussex gathered a large force with which to crush 
the bold young rebel of the North. But Shane, at 
the head of seven thousand determined Irishmen, 
was not so easily overcome. After a campaign, from 
which he derived neither advantage nor glory, Sussex 
resolved to resort to treachery. He hired a man 
named Gray, for a piece of land, to assassinate 
Shane ; but Gray failed to carry out the plan. Then 
Sussex sent Shane some poisoned wine, in the hope 
that he would drink it, and so die. But this attempt 
also failed. 

At this juncture the earl of Kildare, who was a 
cousin of Shane O'Neil, and was also friendly to the 
English power, brought about a cessation of hostili- 
shane goes ties. Shane was persuaded to go to Lon- 
to London. c ] on an( i ma ] <e n j s peace with the haughty 

queen. He was promised liberal and generous treat- 
ment. He accordingly repaired, with a retinue of 
Irish soldiers attired in their native costume of saffron 
shirts, fur jackets, sandalled shoes, and long, curled 
hair, to the brilliant court of Elizabeth. The Irish 
chief was graciously received by the queen, who ad- 
mired the stalwart forms of Shane and his men, and 
who was not less politic than despotic in her nature. 
A treaty was soon made between them. Elizabeth 
acknowledged Shane O'Neil as " Captain of Tyrone;" 



SHANE O NEIL. I23 

but she did not yet award him the earldom, which 
the recent death of his father had left vacant. She 
also promised that her troops should be withdrawn 
from a portion of Ulster. Shane, on his side, agreed 
to set at liberty the chief O'Donnel, whom he held 
as a prisoner, and to drive out a certain settlement 
of Scots, which had recently been made on the north- 
eastern coast of Ireland. 

Shane's promise to exterminate this Scottish set- 
tlement, in order to please the English queen, was 
an act of sheer treachery ; for the Scottish colonists 
had stood stoutly by him in all his contests with his 
English foes. It was at their hands, finally, that 
his ruin came, as a retribution for his treason to 
them. He returned to Ulster, and there continued 
his work of subduing the jealous chiefs _. . 

o ■> inane sub- 

who still defied his power. He soon dues the 
showed that he held lightly his pledges to 
Elizabeth; but so embroiled, at that time, was Eng- 
land with Scotland and the Continental powers, that 
Elizabeth was forced to conciliate the bold Irish chief 
by new concessions. She now recognized him as earl 
of Tyrone, and gave him all the power that his father 
had enjoyed. Shane, although he refused to intrust 
himself again at the English court, received the 
queen's envoys with lavish hospitality, and concluded 
with them a new treaty of peace. 

His power in Ulster was now greater than it had 
ever been. One of the first uses that he made of it 
was to fulfil his promise to extirpate the Scottish set- 



124 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

tiers. He let loose his fierce soldiers suddenly upon 
them, and caused them to be ruthlessly 

Shane s J 

power in killed or driven out. A period of com- 
Ulster ' parative tranquillity ensued, during which 

Shane ruled in Ulster with a strong hand. He re- 
frained from assailing the English of the Pale. Crops 
were abundantly grown in the province, and lawless- 
ness was severely punished. Two years thus passed, 
during which Shane's government was vigorous and 
successful. But, all the while, the English were at 
heart jealous of his rule ; and Shane was in reality 
„, ,_ quite as hostile to them. The war broke 

War be- * 

tween ulster out anew between Ulster and the Pale. 
Sir Henry Sidney arrived in Ireland, as 
lord-deputy (1565), to find the conflict fiercely raging. 
He at once made common cause with those Ulster 
chiefs who had always hated, and, when they could, 
had always resisted Shane O'Neil. 

Some of Shane's old friends and allies, moreover, 
notably O'Donnel, earl of Tyrconnel, perceiving that 
Shane's cause was fast losing ground, joined his 
enemies. The bold Ulster chief was at last brought 
to bay. In his desperation, Shane turned for help 
and protection to the remnant of that very Scottish 
colony upon whom he had, to please the English 
queen, wreaked such savage cruelties. With a few 
Ulstermen who remained faithful to him, he reck- 
lessly threw himself upon the mercy of the Scots. 
They received him with apparent good-grace, and 
offered him a refuge from his foes. But, in reality, 



SHANE O NEIL. 12$ 

the Scots, who had lost fathers, brothers, sons, at the 
hands of Shane's murderous emissaries, had ven- 
geance in their hearts. One day they Mu 
invited Shane and his retainers to a feast. Shane 
Barring the doors of the banqueting-room, ei1 ' 
they fell upon their captives ; and Shane and every 
one of his followers were killed upon the spot. 

Shane O'Neil had committed many crimes. He 
had caused his half-brother to be murdered, and had 
won away the wife of his father-in-law. He had 
caused many savage deeds to be committed. But he 
lived in a rude age, when such crimes were thought 
far more lightly of than they are now. On the other 
hand, Shane struggled valiantly, and to the bitter end, 
against the subjection of Ulster to the foreign power 
of England. When he had a chance to govern his 
province, he governed it wisely and well. Shane's 
For these traits, he is still remembered g° vernment - 
with honor in Ireland. On his death, Ulster lay 
helpless before English power ; for there was no 
warrior like Shane to take his place. Turlough 
O'Neil was, indeed, recognized by Elizabeth as the 
chief of his clan ; but the chiefs who had followed 
Shane's fortunes became the vassals of the English 
crown, and Turlough's authority in Ulster was only 
nominal. He, too, was really a vassal of the haughty 
English queen. 



126 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

IRELAND UNDER ELIZABETH. 

THE fall of Shane O'Neil was followed by prompt 
and energetic measures by Queen Elizabeth. 
With her iron will, she resolved to make Ireland 
Protestant in religion, and English in ownership. 
But from the first, Protestantism meant, in Irish 
eyes, not only a religion hostile to that to which they 
_.. . t . , had always been wedded, but a mark of 

Elizabeth s J 

treatment of English tyranny and ascendancy. In spite 
of the fact, therefore, that the offices of 
Ireland were filled by Protestants, and that the way, 
not only to wealth and power, but even to peace and 
comfort, was to become a Protestant, the new faith 
made no progress among the natives, and very little 
among the old English settlers. Not only the O'Neils 
and the O'Donnels, but the Desmonds and Kildares, 
adhered to the Roman creed. It was in Elizabeth's 
time, and by reason of the acts of her agents, that 
Protestantism became identified in the Irish mind 
with the oppressions and miseries of the land ; and 
that sentiment remained rooted in the Irish heart 
down to recent times. 



IRELAND UNDER ELIZABETH. \2J 

But while Elizabeth failed to convert the Irish, or 
even to force them to accept the new faith, her 
scheme to colonize Ireland with English colonization 
colonies was carried forward vigorously, of Ireland - 
and with some success. It had already been pro- 
posed, in the time of Henry the Eighth, to plant 
the Irish soil with English settlements ; that is, to 
oust the native tillers of the land, and replace them 
by English farmers. But it was not until the sup- 
pression of Shane's rebellion that this plan was at- 
tempted on a large scale. The first plantations, 
however, were doomed to failure. Two colonies 
were established in Ulster, on the domains of the 
O'Neils ; but that still fierce and unconquered clan 
fell upon the colonists, and killed them to The Earl 
a man. Some years later, however, Walter of Essex - 
Devereux, earl of Essex, received from the queen a 
large tract in Antrim (1573). 

Devereux was a stern, cruel, resolute man. His 
district was occupied, to a large extent, by a colony 
of Scotsmen. He undertook not only to drive them 
from the soil, but also to get rid of the native clans, 
who thwarted him at every step. In pursuing these 
ends, Devereux resorted to murder and treachery 
without remorse. He enticed Con O'Donnel to a 
meeting, seized him, and cast him into prison. He 
invited Brian O'Neil to a banquet. Brian came, with 
his wife, brother, and a large retinue. Devereux's 
soldiers fell upon them, and slew them every one. 
He took Rathlin Island, and massacred, not only the 



128 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Scottish garrison, but the old men, women, and chil- 
dren. Not less atrocious were the methods by which 
The planting the attempt was made to plant Muns- 
of Munster. ter Elizabeth gave authority to twenty- 
seven Englishmen to seize the domains of Cork, 
Limerick, and Kerry. The chief among these was 
Sir Peter Carew, a man of brutal temper, who had 
lost his fortune, and was eager to become rich again. 
Carew had the pretence of a claim to certain lands 
in southern Ireland ; and these claims he sought to 
make good by acts of the most barbarous cruelty. 
He desolated the districts over which he passed, and 
massacred men, women, and children without mercy. 
These savage cruelties, committed by the English 
intruders, soon aroused some of the Anglo-Irish chiefs 
to action. The Geraldines put themselves at the head 
of a revolt, and an appeal for aid was sent to the pope, 
and to the Spanish king. The leader of the revolt 
Revolt of was James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald, cousin 
Fitzgerald. f t ] ie ear j f Desmond ; that earl being 
now a prisoner in London. Fitzgerald was bold, 
fearless, and hot-blooded. But, in his first attempt 
to resist the English, his force was too feeble to cope 
with them. Sir Henry Sidney, who was now lord- 
deputy of Ireland, was not less cruel than Essex and 
Carew. He led an army into Munster, which he 
desolated by fire and sword. Towns and villages 
were laid waste ; and women and children, as well as 
men, were ruthlessly put to the sword. The earl of 
Ormond, the great rival of the Geraldines of the 



IRELAND UNDER ELIZABETH. 1 2Q 

South, cast in his lot with the English ; and Fitzgerald 
was soon forced to take refuge in the mountains of 
Kerry. 

Though shut up for the time in the hilly fastnesses, 
Fitzgerald was by no means subdued. He soon be- 
gan to prepare the way for another rebellion. In 
order to strengthen his cause, he had re- 

_ . r . , „, Fitzgerald 

course to England s enemies on the Con- ap p ea i st o 
tinent. Foremost among these enemies the Catholic 

powers. 

was Philip, king of Spain ; Spain be- 
ing England's most formidable rival on the seas. 
The pope, too, whose authority in England had been 
overthrown by Henry the Eighth, and who had seen 
the Catholic church replaced by a Protestant church 
by Elizabeth, might well be inclined to aid a revolt 
against her undertaken by the Catholic Irish. Fitz- 
gerald went, first to Spain, and then to Rome. Philip 
would not openly aid the insurgents ; but the pope 
responded to Fitzgerald's appeal, by fitting out a 
small fleet to go to Ireland. This fleet, however, 
was put under the command of an unscrupulous 
Englishman named Stukely ; who, instead of sailing 
to Ireland, used the fleet in piratical cruising in the 
Mediterranean. But Fitzgerald was not dismayed 
by this loss. With a few Spanish recruits and some 
warlike monks, he landed at Smerwick, on the west 
coast of Ireland, and promptly fortified that place. 

A second rebellion, far more obstinate and for- 
midable than that which had been so quickly sup- 
pressed by Sir Henry Sidney, now broke out all over 



I30 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Ireland. The hideous cruelties perpetrated by the 
The second lord-deputies Fitton and Sidney ; the mas- 
rebeiiion. sacres, ravages, and burnings which had 
marked the conduct of the English " planters ;" the 
bloodthirsty vigor with which it had been attempted 
to exterminate the native Irish from their ancestral 
homes, had roused the people of Ulster, Minister, 
and Connaught to a bitter and burning hatred of 
their oppressors. The treatment of the Anglo-Irish 
— the original English settlers — had not been a whit 
less barbarous. Even the English of the Pale, who 
had been so long protected and fostered by the 
crown, had latterly felt the iron hand of tyranny, 
and were inclined to join their fortunes to those of 
the insurgents. Bands of the Irish quickly gathered 
in the great forest of Kilmore, in the county of 
Limerick, where they were drilled by some Spanish 
soldiers, and where their supplies were 

Spanish aid. 

collected ; and from thence Fitzgerald 
sallied forth to kindle resistance in Connaught. 

At the very outset of the rebellion, however, the 
insurgents lost their brave and energetic leader. 
Fitzmaurice was killed as he attempted to pass the 
river Muckern. The earl of Desmond had now been 
released from his imprisonment. At first he had 
hesitated whether to take part in the rising. Two of 
his brothers, Sir John and Sir James, had promptly 
joined Fitzmaurice's standard ; and three thousand of 
his tenants had entered the rebel ranks. The death 
of Fitzmaurice was followed by Desmond's tardy 



IRELAND UNDER ELIZABETH. 131 

adhesion to the Irish cause. He took the command, 
and forced the English general, Malby, to Adhesion of 
retreat. He then carried his sway over Desmond - 
Munster, took Youghal, and seemed on the high road 
to decisive victory. Elizabeth, alarmed at Desmond's 
progress, sent a new deputy, Sir William Pelham, to 
Ireland. At the same time, she ordered the earl of 
Ormond, always Desmond's rival and enemy, to 
attack him. Pelham led an army from Dublin, and 
Ormond set out, at the head of another, from Kil- 
kenny. Joining their forces in the west, the English 
generals soon checked Desmond, drove him from his 
stronghold, overran Kerry, and recovered all Mun- 
ster. Desmond was forced to hide himself in the 
mountains. The triumph of the English army, as 
usual, was marked by terrible atrocities. Murder and 
rapine everywhere attended their advance. They 
left desolation and utter misery behind them. 

The subjection of Munster was not at once fol- 
lowed by the suppression of rebellion in other parts 
of Ireland. Some of the principal Englishmen of 
the Pale rose in revolt, and, leaving their homes, has- 
tened to join the rebels in the interior. Chief among 
these was lord Baltinglass, a strong Catholic. He, 
with his comrades, effected a junction with Sir John 
Desmond and the remnant of his force. A new lord- 
deputy, lord Grey of Wilton, had arrived in Ireland. 
He hastened forth to meet the troops Defeat of 
under Baltinglass, but was caught by the the En g ,ish - 
rebels in a narrow defile, in the valley of Glenmalure, 



132 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

where his entire force was exterminated. Among 
Grey's lieutenants was the cruel Sir Peter Carew, 
who thus met his death at the hands of the race he 
had so terribly oppressed. Grey retired to Dublin, 
and once more marched westward at the head of a 
fresh army. It is interesting that among those who 
followed Grey in this new expedition were Sir Walter 
Raleigh, the famous navigator, and Edmund Spenser, 
the great poet who wrote the " Faerie Oueene." 

Grey laid siege to the garrison of Spaniards and 
Italians who were holding the port of Smerwick, on 
the west coast, for the rebels, and soon compelled 
them to surrender. Almost the entire garrison were 
mercilessly shot. Grey returned in triumph to Dub- 
lin, and once more set forth to deal a blow at Balt- 
inglass and his comrades in the south. The rebels 
were soon defeated ; but Baltinglass himself suc- 
c ceeded in escaping to France. The rebel- 

Suppression 1 e> 

of the Hon had now been effectually subdued. It 

only remained to capture Desmond and 
his faithful friends, and to wreak vengeance upon the 
routed rebels. A large number, both of Anglo- 
Irish and natives, were hanged. One hundred and 
fifty women and children were put to the sword at 
Kildimo. Lady Fitzgerald was hanged near her own 
castle. Every day new victims were given over to 
slaughter. Among those captured and slain were Des- 
mond's two brothers. The head of Sir John Desmond, 
one of the brothers, was sent to Dublin, and fixed upon 
a spike in front of the castle, for all men to see. 



IRELAND UNDER ELIZABETH. 1 33 

Desmond did not escape the fate of his kinsmen 
and of so many of his adherents. For some time he 
sallied forth from the hills, at intervals, The fate of 
and led guerilla expeditions to ravage the Desmond - 
domains of his enemy, Ormond. But his forces 
dwindled from week to week, and he was constantly 
forced to retreat from one valley to another. A price 
was put upon his head, but the people would not give 
him up to his foes. At last he found a temporary 
shelter in the densely wooded mountains in western 
Kerry. His situation was desperate ; for he was not 
only in daily peril of capture, but hunger constantly 
tortured his devoted band. Early one morning, some 
English soldiers discovered his retreat, and rushed in 
upon his camp. The earl was seized and beheaded 
on the spot. His head was sent to England, and was 
placed, by order of Elizabeth, on a high pole on Lon- 
don Bridge. With the death of the earl, the second 
Desmond rebellion came to an end. 

The state of the interior of Ireland, and especially 
of Munster, which had been the principal scene of 
the struggle, was now extremely wretched. „, ,_ J 

^^ ' J Wretched 

The rich lands had been desolated. Vil- state of the 
lages, once thriving and busy, had disap- intenor - 
peared, or lay in ruins. The poor people wandered 
about helplessly, gaunt with famine, or stricken by 
disease. One Englishman who saw them wrote, 
that "the people offer themselves, with their wives 
and children, rather to be slain by the army, than to 
suffer the famine that now beginneth to pinch them." 



134 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

The poet Spenser said that they looked more like 
skeletons than human beings ; and that, in their 
hunger, they not only ate dead animals, but human 
corpses. Queen Elizabeth confiscated the estates of 
the earl of Desmond, which comprised more than 
half a million of acres, and divided them up among 
Englishmen, who undertook to settle English colonies 
upon them. 

The land in Limerick, Kerry, Cork, and other parts 
of southern Ireland, was parcelled out in estates of 
Confisca- from four thousand to twelve thousand 
tionsofiand. acres These estates were handed over 
to "undertakers" (as those who agreed to plant colo- 
nies were called) ; and many of the soldiers who 
had taken part in putting down the rebellion also 
received tracts of land. A small rent of two and 
three pence an acre was imposed upon these new oc- 
cupiers by the crown, after they had been settled on 
the land six years. The undertakers were allowed 
to send what they raised on the land into England, 
free of duty. On the other hand, they were for- 
bidden to take native Irishmen as tenants or labor- 
ers ; and were compelled to get their tradesmen and 
artisans — the bakers, butchers, smiths, carpenters, 
tailors, and so on — from England. Each undertaker 
was bound, moreover, to establish at least eighty-six 
English families on his estate. Such, in general, was 
the plan by which Elizabeth and her ministers hoped 
to replace the Irish by an English population, and to 
make of Ireland an English country. 



THE REVOLT OF TYRONE. 1 35 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE REVOLT OF TYRONE. 

THE Irish resisted the occupation of their land by 
English colonies, just as they resisted, for cen- 
turies, every step taken by the English to fasten their 
rule upon Ireland. The English colonists _ . 

i ° Resistance of 

who attempted to occupy the land found the Irish to 
their lives constantly harassed and endan- 
gered. The poor Irish, who had been expelled from 
their homes, and now lived as they could in the bogs 
or in the woods, formed secret leagues to attack the 
new-comers. The members of these leagues called 
themselves "Robin Hoods," after the English high- 
wayman who was so famous in those clays. The 
undertakers, moreover, found it impossible to com- 
ply with the conditions on which they had received 
their lands. They could not find Englishmen, who, 
in the face of the dangers which threatened them, 
were willing to become their tenants, and farm the 
land. English tradesmen and artisans could not 
be induced to leave their safe homes, and establish 
themselves in places where they might be robbed, 
and even killed, by the fierce Robin Hoods. 

Thus it was that Elizabeth's harsh scheme for 



I36 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

replacing the Irish by an English population, to a 
„ ., , certain extent failed of its purpose. The 

Failure of l L 

Elizabeth's natives were more obstinate in their resist- 
ance than she had foreseen. Even mas- 
sacre and the desolation of the country had not 
tamed their inveterate-hostility to English intrusion. 
Neither hunger nor nakedness could cow them into 
submission to the lot imposed upon them. Many of 
the undertakers gave up their lands in sheer despair. 
Others, in spite of their pledges, accepted native 
Irishmen as tenants. Yet rebellion, at least on a 
large scale, had been crushed. Minister lay in help- 
lessness beneath English arms. In Connaught, 
some of the most powerful lords, such as the earls 
of Thomond, the earl of Clanricarde, and the head 
of the unruly family of Burke, had refused to join 
arms with Desmond. 

Eor a while Ireland was quiet, if not pacified, 
under the rule of the lord-deputy Perrot, who had 
succeeded lord Grey of Wilton in that office (1584). 
Perrofs Perrot governed, on the whole, with jus- 

government. ^ lce anc j firmness. But one of his acts 
was long bitterly remembered in Ireland, and this 
memory later aided in fanning the flames of another 
rebellion. He suspected the chief, O'Donnel, of 
secret hostility to the crown. In order to obtain 
security for O'Donnel's good behavior, Perrot had re- 
course to a perfidious stratagem. He invited a young 
son of O'Donnel, who was called " Red Hugh," two 
sons of Shane O'Neil, and several of their comrades, 



THE REVOLT OF TYRONE. I 37 

to drink some Spanish wine on board a vessel which 
lav off the shores of Donegal. When _. 

J ° The sons of 

they had become tipsy from the wine, Shane 
Perrot ordered the youths to be disarmed, 
put in irons, and thus conveyed to Dublin. They 
were thrown into Dublin castle, where they were 
kept imprisoned several years. This act aroused 
the open enmity of O'Donnel, and kindled fierce 
indignation throughout Ulster. 

But Perrot's government, aside from this deed of 
treachery, was so temperate, that it raised up against 
him a host of enemies among the English. Every 
occasion to bring charges against him was eagerly 
seized by those who wished to get rid of him. At 
last an incident occurred which gave his enemies 
the opportunity they sought, by arousing against 
him Elizabeth's excessive vanity. A native chief 
named O'Rourke, who was boastful of his _.,_, . . 

' U Kourke s 

hostility to the English, caused a rude msuit to 
effigy of Elizabeth to be made. He tied 
this effigy to his horse's tail, and rode defiantly about 
the country, dragging the effigy behind him. For 
some reason, Perrot made no effort to punish 
O'Rourke for this audacious insult to the queen. 
The insult was promptly reported to Elizabeth, and 
she angrily deposed Perrot. She sent Sir William 
Fitzwilliam, a bad-tempered, avaricious man, to be 
lord-deputy in his place; and Fitzwilliam soon un- 
settled the tranquillity and order which Perrot had 
established in Ireland. 



I30 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

From the first, Fitzwilliam carried matters with a 
high hand, and used his power with cruel caprice. 
His greed for money prompted him to commit many 
tyrannical acts. He threw into prison two Ulster 
„ . chiefs, McTool and O'Doherty, who had 

Harsh treat- -' ' 

ment of the always been faithful to the crown, on a 
false charge of having concealed some 
treasure which he was eager to get into his clutches. 
On an equally false accusation of having used force 
to collect rents, contrary to law, Fitzwilliam caused 
Hugh McMahon to be seized, tried by court-martial, 
and executed, and gave McMahon's lands to English 
men. The arbitrary acts of Fitzwilliam' s agents in 
Ulster created wide-spread discontent. The cattle 
were stolen, money was extorted from the chiefs 
without warrant of law, and even women and children 
were slaughtered by the ruffians sent to carry out 
the lord-deputy's orders. When, after governing 
Ireland for six years, the avaricious Fitzwilliam was 
at last recalled, he left the country in a state of pro- 
found unrest. Red Hugh had escaped 

Red Hugh. ° ' 

from Dublin castle, had returned to his 
own country, and assumed the lordship of Tyr- 
connel. He and his clans were ripe for revolt. In 
Connaught and in Ulster, the people only awaited a 
signal to rise once more against their oppressors. 

There now appeared, as the leader of the Irish 
patriots, one of the most heroic and famous figures 
in Irish history. This was Hugh O'Neil, earl of 
Tyrone. A descendant of the redoubtable family 



THE REVOLT OF TYRONE. I 39 

which had so long given warrior-kings to Ulster and 
to all Ireland, once more arose to defy the power of 
the English crown. Hugh O'Neil was Hug h 
the son of that Matthew whom his half- °' Neil - 
brother, Shane O'Neil, had caused to be killed. But 
in course of time Hugh had succeeded to the title 
and estates of Tyrone. In many respects he pre- 
sented a striking contrast to other Irish chiefs. He 
had been carefully educated in England. He was 
an accomplished scholar, a polished courtier, an expe- 
rienced soldier, a graceful and fine-mannered gentle- 
man. From his youth up, Hugh O'Neil had given 
his allegiance to the English crown, and had even 
fought on the English side in Shane's rebellion. He 
was personally liked by Elizabeth, who had conferred 
many favors upon him. 

Such was the man, so different in many respects 
from the still rude and untamed chiefs of the Irish 
clans, who now came forward to champion the cause 
of his oppressed fellow countrymen. Hugh was the 
son-in-law of the chief O'Donnel, whose son, Red 
Hugh, had been so treacherously dealt with by the 
lord-deputy Perrot. O'Neil had been angered by 
this treatment of his young brother-in-law, and he 
had felt a deep resentment at the cruelties and 
exactions of the English agents in Ulster. He 
gradually cooled in his loyalty to the , Neil be 
crown, but at first he did not openly comes hostile 

, , . ., A ,. • • 1 _, to the crown. 

declare against it A romantic incident, 

however, finally completed the breach between O'Neil 



I4O YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

and the English. His wife had died ; and he had 
fallen deeply in love with the sister of Sir Henry 
Bagnalj the commander of the English forces in 
Ireland. The young lady had rare beauty and many 
attractive graces. She ardently responded to Hugh 
O* Neil's affection. But Sir Henry Bagnal violently 
opposed the match. O'Neil thereupon eloped with 
his lady-love, and married her. 

Bagnal at once conceived a deadly hatred of 
O'Neil. He tried by every means to convict him of 
treasonable acts, and intercepted the letters in which 
O'Neil defended himself from the charges made 
against him. O'Neil repaired to London, and easily 
made his peace with Elizabeth. But no sooner had 
he returned to Ireland, than he found that the 
flames of revolt had already burst forth. Young 
Red Hugh and the sons of Shane O'Neil had risen 
in arms ; and O'Donnel, the father of Hugh's first 
wife, exasperated by his wrongs, had inflicted more 
than one desperate blow on the English forces m 
Ulster Hugh O'Neil joined with O'Donnel, and 
The league promptly set about forming a great league 
of the chiefs. Q f j r j sn chiefs against the English. The 
O'Rourkes, the McMahons, the Scots, the O'Connors, 
the O'Kellys, the McDermots, and the O'Byrnes 
joined the standard of the two great Ulster chiefs. 
The league appealed to the Catholics to stand by 
their faith against their Protestant tyrants. It sent 
emissaries to Spam to apply once more for aid, and 
it made ready to meet the formidable battalions of 
England in the held (1595) 



THE REVOLT OF TYRONE. 14! 

The first campaign of Tyrone's league was at- 
tended with such signal success, that Elizabeth be- 
came alarmed, and tried to make peace with him. 
Tyrone pretended to come to terms ; but Revolt of 
his real object was to gain time, until the T y° ne - 
help which had been promised him by the Spanish 
king, Philip, should arrive. As soon as three Span- 
ish frigates appeared off the coast of Donegal, Tyrone 
resumed his military operations. The new lord- 
deputy, Lord Burgh, was forced to retreat ; and, a 
little later, Tyrone's father-in-law and bitter enemy, 
Bagnal, was utterly defeated, and himself slain, in a 
desperate battle on the banks of the Callan. Several 
forts held by the English surrendered to the Irish 
insurgents, and Tyrone now found himself the mas- 
ter of nearly the whole of Ulster. Meanwhile the 
fortunes of war leaned to the side of the Irish in 
other parts of the island. Connaught, Munster, and 
even Leinster, the province in which the Pale was 
situated, were afire with revolt. 

Tyrrel, one of Tyrone's bravest lieutenants, drove 
Sir Thomas Norris, governor of Munster, into Cork. 
The castles of the earl of Desmond were successes of 
seized by the Irish ; and a cousin of the the Irish - 
earl, who was on Tyrone's side, took his title, and 
was called, in derision, the "earl of Straw." In no 
long' time the whole of Ireland, outside the small 
district of the Pale, had come under the sway of 
Tyrone and his brave comrades. The Irish had 
fought, not only with valor, but with steadfastness 



142 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

and discipline. They had been well handled by sol- 
diers who had seen something of war on a larger 
scale. They had had an abundance of food and 
ammunition. Many of the English troops, on the 
other hand, were raw recruits ; and operating, as 
they did, in a country unfamiliar and profoundly hos- 
tile to them, they met their enemy everywhere at 
a disadvantage. Ireland seemed, at this moment 
(1598), entirely lost to England. The Irish, indeed, 
had all but won their independence. 

But the proud spirit of Elizabeth, although she 
was now aged and physically feeble, was aroused to 
its old energy by the overwhelming disasters to her 
arms in Ireland. Her favorite at this time was a 
brave, handsome, chivalrous courtier, Robert Deve- 
reux, earl of Essex. He had just performed the 
brilliant feat of attacking and burning a Spanish 
fleet in the harbor of Cadiz. Elizabeth appointed 
Essex in Essex lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and in- 
ireiand. trusted to him a fresh army of twenty-one 

thousand men, with which to put down Tyrone's re- 
volt. Essex relieved some of the Ulster garrisons, 
and then marched southward into Munster. But his 
campaign had no marked result. The Irish troops 
prudently refused to meet so strong a force in the 
open field, but continually picked off the English as 
The English they marched to and fro. Essex returned 
harassed. j- Dublin, with his troops greatly reduced 
in numbers and dampened in spirits. Meanwhile his 
lieutenant, Sir Conyers Clifford, had been cut off 
with half his force by O'Donnel in Connaught. 










, 1 1 



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Meeting of Tyrone and Essex, on the hanks of the Lagan. — Page 143. 



THE REVOLT OF TYRONE. I 43 

Elizabeth was enraged by Essex's want of success. 
She sent him, however, two thousand fresh troops ; 
and he promptly marched on Ulster. A mysterious 
event, which has never since been fully explained, 
now took place. Tyrone, seeing that he was hard 
pushed, begged for an interview with Essex. The 
lord-lieutenant granted the request. The great 
Ulster chief and the gallant English courtier met on 
the banks of the Lagan. What passed between 
them is not known ; but the result of their 

Armistice 

meeting was, that Essex agreed to an between 
armistice of six weeks. When the news Essex and 

Tyrone. 

of this concession by Essex reached Eng- 
land, it produced universal indignation. The queen 
shared in the anger of her subjects. Essex was 
loudly accused of treachery. He was abruptly re- 
called to London. There, soon after, he actually en- 
gaged in a conspiracy against the queen, was seized 
and thrown into the Tower, and, after a brief trial, 
was beheaded. 



144 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE PLANTATION OF IRELAND. 

THE task of recovering Ireland from the grasp of 
the brave Tyrone was now resumed with more 
vigor than ever. Essex's successor in the govern- 
ment of Ireland was a stern, energetic nobleman, 
Lord Mountjoy. The first act of this new ruler was 
to re-organize the shattered and demoralized English 
Mountjoy's troops. He restored rigid discipline to 
tyranny. n j s arm y j an j inflicted the severest punish- 
ments on those soldiers who in the least deviated 
from their duties. As a military chief, Mountjoy 
was wary and heartless. He refused to be drawn 
into bogs and forests, where the Irish clans could pick 
off his men. His plan of conquest was simply to lay 
waste the country. Wherever he went, he destroyed 
crops and villages, and thus made a desert. In this 
way he reduced the greater part of Minister and Con 
naught to submission. Tyrone himself was about to 
_. _ . . despair, when the news reached him that a 

The Spanish 1 ' 

fleet at Spanish fleet of fifty vessels, under Don 

Juan d'Aquila, had reached Kinsale. The 

Irish chief promptly marched towards that place 



THE PLANTATION OF IRELAND. I45 

with five thousand men, to effect a junction with 
his allies. 

The English under Carew promptly laid siege, 
both by land and sea, to the Spaniards in Kinsale. 
Tyrone, having joined O'Donnel, came up, and took 
up a position which threatened the besieging forces. 
But now treachery wrought the ruin of the Irish 
patriots. Tyrone resolved to take the English by 
surprise, and to attack them before they knew his 
intention. But a traitor from his camp carried the 
intelligence to Carew. When Tyrone made his as- 
sault, he found the English ready to receive him. 
After a desperate fight, he was forced to retreat in 
confusion. He could no longer stand up against 
such a disaster, and in the face of an Fan of 
enemy so superior in numbers and disci- Kinsale - 
pline. At last the brave Tyrone was forced to sub- 
mit to Mount joy, while O'Donnel sought safety in 
flight across seas. The English avenged the rebel- 
lion by the most ruthless cruelties. The country 
was desolated. Human beings, cattle, crops, were 
exterminated. 

Just after Tyrone had given in his submission, the 
news reached Ireland, that the iron-souled English 
queen, Elizabeth, was dead (1603). The Irish were 
at first rejoiced to hear this ; for they had heard that 
James the First, Elizabeth's successor, was favorable 
to the Catholics, and they hoped that he would defend 
them in the practice of their faith. But they were 
destined to be rudely undeceived. James very soon 



I46 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

showed that he was resolved, not only to suppress 
the creed of the native Irish, but to force Protes- 
tantism upon them by every means in his power. 
Not only the native Irish, but the Anglo-Irish of the 
Pale (the descendants of the original English set- 
tlers), were Catholics. The decrees of the 
ism forced new English king bore with equal severity 
upon the on both. Sir Arthur Chichester, whom 
James sent to Ireland as lord-deputy, com- 
manded the chief citizens of Dublin to attend the 
Protestant church ; and, when they refused, he threw 
them all into Dublin castle. A fine was inflicted 0:1 
all persons who did not go to the Protestant church 
every Sunday. A person in Ireland who did not 
take the oath of supremacy, which acknowledged the 
king as the sole head of the church, could not hold 
either a military or a civil office. He could not be 
a magistrate, a judge, a lawyer, or an army officer. 

The reign of James was marked by a vigorous 

renewal of the attempts which had been made by 

Elizabeth, to colonize all Ireland with 

Reign of 

james the Englishmen. The success of this scheme, 
though by no means complete, was much 
greater under James than it had been under Eliza- 
beth. James first directed his attention to Ulster. 
Tyrone and other Ulster chiefs had submitted to the 
crown. But it was necessary to deprive them of 
their local power, and, indeed, if possible, to get rid 
of them altogether. A false charge was made against 
Tyrone and O'Donnel's son Rory of having formed 



THE PLANTATION OF IRELAND. 1 47 

a plot to kill the lord-deputy, and seize Dublin cas- 
tle. Tyrone was warned that it was intended to 
arrest him on this charge. He therefore fled, with 
young O'Donnel, to the Continent. He repaired to 
Rome, where, shattered and blind, he died Flight of 
a few years after. Soon after Tyrone's T y rone - 
flight, a feeble revolt broke out in Ulster, which was 
speedily suppressed, its leaders becoming outcasts. 
Thus, one by one, the greater Ulster chiefs were 
disappearing. 

The " treason " of the Ulster chiefs afforded James 
the opportunity, which he eagerly seized, to declare 
their domains forfeited to the crown ; and thus a way 
was opened for putting into practice a scheme for 
planting the whole of the northern province with 
English and Scottish settlers. No less than six 
counties were confiscated by the king, to be divided 
up and delivered over to new holders, who would 
be Protestant and loyal. The king's agents went 
promptly to work to carry the new plantation into 
effect. The land of the six counties was carefully 
surveyed. In all, it was found that between three 
and four millions of acres of Irish land had come 
into the hands of the crown, by the con- L and con- 
fiscation of James. This land was par- fiscatlons - 
celled out into farms of between one and two thousand 
acres, and was given over mainly to English and Scot- 
tish undertakers, on condition that they should pay 
for it an annual rent of from one to two and a quarter 
pence per acre. Some of the land, however, was 



I48 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

retained for the purpose of supporting the Protestant 
bishops, churches, and clergy, for towns and forts, 
and for establishing free schools. 

The undertakers to whom the farms were given, 
and the settlers upon the domain, were bound by 
certain other conditions besides that of the payment 
of rent. They were required to build castles as resi- 
dences ; to divide their land into four 

Conditions . . 

imposed larger, ana six smaller, tarms, and to sup- 
upon the p 0rt e jo-ht skilled laborers and their fami- 

colonists. . 

lies ; to let their lands for no shorter 
period than twenty-one years ; to have the houses 
built in groups, or villages, in order that the settle- 
ments might the better defend themselves ; to take 
the oath of supremacy ; and not to receive the native 
Irish as tenants upon their estates. In addition to 
the undertakers, several of the great London guilds, 
or trade associations, took large tracts of land in 
Ireland, and let it out in the same way that the 
undertakers did. The land in Ulster was of two 
kinds, — that which was fertile, and that which was 
useless for farming or grazing. The good land was 
called "fat land," and the bad, "lean land." Four- 
fifths of the land confiscated by James was lean : 
only about a half a million acres were fat, or fertile. 
Of course it was the fat land which the undertakers 
seized, and upon which the new English and Scottish 
settlements were made. 

All that was left for the poor native Irish was the 
lean land, which comprised bogs, barren moors, and 



THE PLANTATION OF IRELAND. I49 

dense forests. Thus great numbers of them became 
vagrants, becrgars, and outlaws. They 

. 7 ■ Wretched 

retired from the rich farms where their state of the 
ancestors had dwelt and labored for centu- natIves - 
ries, and saw themselves replaced by foreign intrud- 
ers, who were protected by all the power of the 
English crown. Under that protection, the colonists 
began to thrive. Many Englishmen and Scotsmen, 
attracted by the fertile domains and the low rents, 
repaired to Ulster, rented farms of the undertakers, 
and permanently settled down. Castles and com- 
fortable mansions dotted the country. Towns, vil- 
lages, mills, schools, bridges, and forts appeared in 
once lonely and secluded spots. An air of thrift and 
prosperity began to pervade the province. Yet the 
scheme was by no means fully successful. The want 
of laborers on the farms, and the lack of enough 
English and Scottish tenants to rent them, compelled 
the undertakers here and there to violate the condi- 
tion which forbade their receiving the native Irish. 
Many of the English and Scottish tenants, after 
remaining a while upon the land, returned to their 
homes across the channel. When they Decrease of 
did so, they sold out the remainder of thecolonis ts. 
their leases, and the improvements they had made 
on the land, to natives. Thus arose the custom of 
" tenant right," which has continued in Ulster to our 
own clay. 

Having, as far as he could, carried out his plan 
of planting Ulster, James turned his attention to 



150 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

the two provinces of Leinster and Connaught. By 
all sorts of legal subterfuge and trickery, the titles 
to many of the Leinster estates were declared defec- 
tive ; and these estates, like those of the Ulster 
chiefs, were confiscated by the crown. 

Confisca- J 

tions in In this wholesale seizure of land, the 

Anglo-Irish suffered in common with the 
native chiefs. Nearly half a million acres in Leinster 
were thus taken from their possessors, given over 
to English undertakers, and granted for the use of the 
church and schools. Only a small proportion was 
returned to those who were called " the more deserv- 
ing " of the recent holders of the land. Those who 
were dispossessed in favor of the new-comers became, 
like their fellow-countrymen of Ulster, wanderers 
and outlaws in wild places. And now, for the first 
time, we hear of "agrarian outrages" being com- 
mitted in Ireland. The expelled proprietors and 
their adherents retorted upon the intruders by assas- 
sination, the maiming of cattle, and the destruction 
of crops. 

The English avenged these agrarian outrages by 
killing off the vagrant Irish wherever they could lay 
Massacres of their hands on them. The lord-deputy 
the Irish. St j ohn declared that he had killed three 
hundred of the recent land-owners in as many years. 
"But," he said, "as soon as one sort is cut off, others 
rise in their places ; for the country is so full of the 
younger sons of gentlemen, who have no means of 
living, and will not work, that, when they are sought 



THE PLANTATION OF IRELAND. 151 

to be punished for disorders they commit in their 
idleness, they go to the woods, to maintain them- 
selves by the spoil of their quiet neighbors." Thus 
Leinster, as well as Ulster, was planted with some 
degree of success ; and the result was to add a con- 
siderable sum to James's treasury from the rents, 
fines, and the increased customs duties, arising from 
the better industrial condition of the country. It 
remained to plant Connaught. But the landed pro- 
prietors of Connaught found a way of averting the 
doom of their fellow-countrymen of the other three 
provinces. They knew that what James most wanted 
was money. So they offered him a large sum for 
new titles to their land, provided he would not pur- 
sue his scheme of planting Connaught. While James 
was hesitating whether to accept it, he died (1625) ; 
and Connaught was saved, at least for a time, from a 
large settlement of English upon the land. 

We must now go back a little, and see how James 
sought to give legal sanction to his harsh proceed- 
ings in Ireland. This could only be done through 
the Irish Parliament. For a long time, James hesi- 
tated about calling that Parliament together. It was 
necessary, in order that his acts should be „.,_ , . , 

J The Irish 

approved, that Parliament should comprise Parliament 
a majority of Protestants. But a great summone 
majority of those who were entitled to vote for mem- 
bers in Ireland were Roman Catholics. James set 
his agents to work to so arrange the voting-districts 
as to secure the election of a majority devoted to the 



152 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

king. This was done by converting mere villages in 
many of the Protestant districts, into boroughs en- 
titled to return members. The king's agents also 
used every kind of threat and pressure to compel the 
people to vote as they wished. After a very bitter 
contest, the new Parliament was chosen, and was 
found to contain a small majority of Protestant 
members. 

After a noisy struggle over the speakership, Parlia- 
ment went to work to carry out the king's wishes. 
It forbade the Catholics to worship according to their 
faith. It required that every Catholic priest should 
Repressive leave Ireland within forty days, under 
laws. heavy penalties. It declared that a per- 

son who sheltered a priest should be fined forty 
pounds ; that, if he did so a second time, he should 
be imprisoned ; and that, for the third offence of this 
kind, he should suffer death. It passed an act, "at- 
tainting" of high treason O'Neil, O'Donnel, and 
many other Ulster chiefs ; and confirmed the confis- 
cations of their lands to the crown. It put all the 
native Irish under the protection and obligations of 
the English law. Hitherto, by that law, they had 
been simply outlaws. It also abolished all the old 
laws which had forbidden marriage and other social 
relations between the English and the Irish races. 
At the end of James's reign, therefore, it may be 
said that the whole of Ireland was under the physical 
control of the English sceptre. 



CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE. 1 53 



CHAPTER XX. 

CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE. 

IN the early part of the seventeenth century, Ire- 
land was occupied by three different classes of 
men. There were the native Irish, who, The Irish 
as we have seen, had in many instances, classes - 
and in large numbers, been ousted from the land of 
which they and their ancestors had been the owners, 
or which they had tilled as peasants or as laborers, 
for centuries. There were the Anglo-Irish, the 
descendants of the original Norman or English 
settlers, who dwelt in the Pale, who had acquired, in 
various ways, large estates in the country, and who 
were represented by such great nobles as the earls 
of Kildare, Desmond, Ormond, and Clanricarde. 
Lastly, there were the new English and Scottish 
settlers, — the men who had come as undertakers 
and colonists to plant the confiscated lands, and 
who had established large English colonies T h e 
in Minister, Ulster, and Leinster. Of colonists - 
these classes, the native Irish almost to a man,* 
and a very large majority of the Anglo-Irish, ad- 
hered firmly to the Roman Catholic faith ; while 



154 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

nearly all of the new English and Scottish settlers 
were equally devoted to the Protestant creed. 

The native Irish, as a people, were not subdued, 
excepting outwardly and physically, to English rule. 
The native They never had accepted that rule in their 
Irish. hearts, and. they have never so accepted 

it since. The wrongs they had endured by the origi- 
nal English intruders had been continued and ex- 
ceeded by later English sovereigns. The native 
Irish had to a great degree absorbed the Anglo-Irish, 
who had become Irish in custom, by marriage and 
descent, by harmony of interests, and in sympathy 
and love of country. But, when this had happened, 
other colonies of new English were thrust upon them 
by force of arms and gross tyranny ; and the later 
tyrants now held Ireland in their grasp. In the 
course of the long, almost ceaseless conflicts, the 
repeated rebellions, and the succeeding devastations 
by the English conquerors, it is no wonder 
ate state of that the outcast and poverty-stricken na- 

the natives. , • 1 • , • , . /-* . . 

tives sank into a semi-savage state. Great 
numbers of them dwelt in the forests, or in the vast 
boggy districts of the interior. Comparatively few 
served the new settlers as laborers and menials, or, 
in rare instances, held small patches of ground as 
tenants. 

The most profitable property held by the Irish and 
Anglo-Irish was cattle, and their chief industry was 
cattle-raising. The old tribal custom of holding land 
in common still survived here and there in Ireland ; 



CONDITION CF THE IRISH PEOPLE. 1 55 

and the pastures held by the tribes were used for rear- 
ing the herds of cows and the flocks of sheep. The 
forests were used for the keeping of hogs. In some 
parts of the country, too, large quantities 
of oats and barley were grown, not only for resounds of 
food, but also for the making of a strong 
drink commonly partaken of in those days, called 
"usquebaugh." Grain was likewise exported, to 
some extent, from Ireland to England. The land 
was ploughed by six horses driven abreast, the ploughs 
being tied to the horses' tails. One great source of 
profit, sea and fresh-water fishing, which has since 
become a lucrative industry in Ireland, was pursued 
little, if at all, in the sixteenth century. The Irish 
had very little ready money. Almost all of their 
trading was done by exchanging one product or arti- 
cle for another, and they usually paid their fines and 
taxes with cattle or sheep. 

The chiefs, both native and Anglo-Irish, lived in a 
sort of rude, barbaric state. They had large castles, 
built of rough-hewn stone, supplied with customs of 
moats and draw-bridges and high donjon the chiefs - 
towers. These castles stood on islands, or promon- 
tories, or on the crests of high hills. Some of 
them even had the luxury of leaden roofs. In these 
mansions the chiefs exercised a primitive, but cer- 
tainly bountiful and hilarious, hospitality. They had 
their retainers, who sometimes dwelt in huts within 
the castle-walls ; but more often just outside, their 
huts clustered in a valley, or on the shores of a lake 



I56 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

or river. The ancient Irish dress was still retained 
by many of the chiefs. It consisted usually of a 
The ancient saffron-colored shirt, over which a tunic 
Irish dress. w ith wide-flowing sleeves, and sometimes 
a fur cloak, was worn. 

The Irish farmers and tenants, and the Anglo- 
Irish of the same rank, lived in a far humbler and 
ruder fashion than the chiefs. A few, perhaps, were 
sufficiently well-to-do to enjoy the comfort of clay 
cottages, with roofs made of rafters, wherein they 
dwelt, sheltered, at least, from the frequent rains. 
But a large majority of the farmers lived in little 
hamlets of small cabins, built on islands, in order 
that they might be protected from the assaults of 
enemies. A hole in the roof sufficed for a chimney. 
The cabin had no other furniture than heaps of 
straw laid about in the corners on the unpaved 
ground. Their garments were of wool or flax, spun 
by their wives and daughters ; and their ordinary 
food was oaten or barley cakes, cheese, milk, and 
butter. Only the wealthier farmers could afford an 
occasional chicken, rabbit, or piece of beef. At their 
meals, they sat upon the ground in their cabins, 
around the fire built in the centre, which had been 
built to cook the food. They ate with their fingers ; 
and, with the free use of usquebaugh, their meal was 
soon concluded. 

As for the lowest class of the Irish, — those who 
had almost no property, and almost no occupation, — 
their state at the becinninsr of the seventeenth cen- 



CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE. I 57 

tury was wretched beyond conception. They were 
half-starved. Often they were found wan- The lowest 
dering about absolutely naked, with no cIass - 
shelter except the trees of the forest. Sometimes 
they lived in miserable hovels, sleeping side by side 
with the sheep and pigs, and barely living on milk 
and curds and diseased meat. These poor creatures, 
expelled with the rest from the fat lands, died by 
thousands in the remote and barren places whither 
they fled for refuge. Sometimes they formed des- 
perate marauding bands, and, maddened by hunger, 
fiercely attacked the thriving settlements of the 
English. The English destroyed them like vermin 
wherever they could. All the Irish high-roads were 
infested by men, women, and children in the last 
stages of want, who begged piteously of the passers- 
by, to be often answered with a shot, or a thrust 
from a pike. 

It was towards the close of Elizabeth's reign that 
the famous university, Trinity College, was founded 
by that queen in Dublin (1593). It is said Trinity 
that this university owed its existence to Colle s e - 
the suggestion of the great and wise English philoso- 
pher, Lord Bacon. He proposed to Elizabeth that 
the Bible, liturgy, and catechism of the English 
church should be translated and spread in the Irish 
language; and this was one of the main pui poses 
for which Trinity College was founded. It was, of 
course, as it has been ever since, a Protestant insti- 
tution. No Catholics were, on any account, admitted, 



I58 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

either to a share in its government, to its body of 
instructors, or to its classes of students. The spot 
where the ancient monastery of All Hallows stood was 
granted by Dublin for the building of the university. 
Elizabeth made generous grants of the lands which 
had been taken from the abbeys to support it ; 
and, to these grants, James added still others, of 
lands derived from the confiscations in Ulster. 
Many of the Protestants in Ireland subscribed gen- 
erously to the funds of the university, and some 
English army officers presented it with a library. 

When Trinity College had got fairly under way, 

the idea of printing the religious books in Irish was 

. . carried out. The casting of Irish type 

The printing & ■> l 

of religious was begun ; and the first book ever printed 
in the Irish tongue was the Protestant 
catechism, issued in the first year of the seventeenth 
century by the university press. The New Testa- 
ment was translated into Irish, and was first pub- 
lished three years later (1603). The Old Testament 
did not appear until towards the close of the seven- 
teenth century. Trinity College, under the fostering 
care of the crown, grew rapidly, and soon became 
wealthy and flourishing. It was intended as a bul- 
wark of Protestantism in Ireland. Its influence was 
exerted to attempt the conversion of the people. 
But in this effort it did not achieve much success. 
The Irish clung to the Catholic faith through every 
persecution and persuasion, and a vast majority of 
them adhere to it to this day. 



CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE. 1 59 

The older institutions of learning in Ireland, which 
had once spread the light of knowledge and the 
inspiration of religion through Europe, had been 
extinguished, or had decayed and died out, amid the 
long-continued civil convulsions. Only one Catholic 
college of any importance survived. This was the 
college of St. Nicholas at Galway. In 

& _ J The College 

the reign of James, this institution is said of st. 
to have contained thirteen hundred Catho- Nicholas - 
lie and native scholars. Under James's harsh rule 
of Ireland, the college of St. Nicholas was abruptly 
closed, because its head, a courageous priest named 
John Lynch, would not desert his faith, and accept 
that of the church of England. The Irish Catholics 
of the better class were now compelled to send their 
children to the continent to be educated ; and large 
numbers, for a while, attended the famous schools 
of France and Germany. But even this was not 
long permitted. By a decree of the lord-deputy 
Chichester (1610), all Irish parents who had sent 
their children to foreign schools were ordered to call 
them back to Ireland within a year. Heavy penal- 
ties of fine and imprisonment were inflicted upon 
those who disobeyed this tyrannical command. 

The reign of Elizabeth, noted for the great number 
of brilliant English writers who adorned it, was also 
marked by many good Irish historians and 

Irish writers. 

poets. Almost all of these, however, wrote 

their works in Latin. The most celebrated Irish 

writers of the reign were Richard Stanihurst, whose 



l6o YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

verses are still, to some degree, remembered ; Lom- 
bard and Usher, the Catholic and Protestant arch- 
bishops ; O'Sullivan, O'Meara, and White. The 
ancient order of bards, too, still survived. Their 
poems, relating the deeds of heroes, or breathing 
pious thoughts on the chief events of biblical his- 
tory, won the praises of the great English poet, 
Edmund Spenser, who dwelt for some time in Ire- 
land. The bard Owen Ward followed Tyrone when 
he fled from Ireland, and wrote odes at Rome in 
praise of Tyrone's military prowess. But the bards 
were regarded with a jealous eye by the English 
masters of the country ; for it was thought that their 
glowing verses kept alive the spirit of rebellion, and 
the desire for national freedom, among the native 
Irish. Edicts were therefore issued against them ;' 
arid many of them were forced to seek flight, or to 
abandon their ancient calling. 



wentwokth's iron rule. 161 



CHAPTER XXI. 
wentworth's iron rule. 

THE accession of Charles the First as king of 
England (1625), aroused in the oppressed Irish 
the hope of gentler treatment from their masters. 
It was supposed that Charles regarded the Charles the 
Catholics with more favor than his father First - 
had done, and would therefore establish a greater 
toleration of worship throughout his realm. But 
before very long both the English and the Irish 
learned, to their grief, that no faith could be reposed 
in Charles's wisdom or sincerity Like his father 
before him, and his two sons after him, Charles 
made fair promises, only to break them when it was 
not convenient to keep them. James had left the 
royal treasury in an almost bankrupt condition, and 
Charles's first and sorest need was money. In order 
to replenish his purse, he was ready to adopt any 
means, gentle or severe ; and he looked to Ireland to 
contribute large supplies to his treasury. His first 
step was to make solemn promises to give the Irish 
landlords good titles to their properties, and to relax 
the severe laws by which the Irish were oppressed. 



l62 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Man)' of the Irish lords and gentlemen hastened 
to seize the opportunity which the king's necessities 
seemed to leave open to them. They sent a deputa- 
tion to him, who agreed to furnish him with 

The Irish ° 

lords and the ,-£120,000, if he would grant them certain 
concessions. The principal concessions, 
which were called "graces," were, that good titles 
should be given to the land-owners in Connaught, 
the only one of the four provinces which had not as 
yet been planted ; that the occupation of a domain 
for sixty years should give its owner a perfect title, 
which could not be disturbed ; that Catholics who 
took simply an oath of civil allegiance, and not 
the oath of supremacy, should be allowed to prac- 
tise as lawyers in the courts ; that taxes should not 
be levied with the aid of soldiers ; that felons should 
not be allowed to testify so as to endanger the 
liberty of Irish subjects ; and that an Irish Parlia- 
Tne ment should be held to confirm these 

"graces." demands. Charles readily assented to 
these graces, and the Irish lords implicitly relied on 
his royal word. They were speedily to find out that 
it was valueless. 

They promptly paid one-third of the sum which 
they had promised to the king : the other two-thirds 
were to be paid in the ensuing two years. The lord- 
deputy of Ireland at this time was lord Falkland, 
a man of lenient and generous nature, who after- 
wards played a teading part in the English civil war. 
But Falkland was compelled by the king to play a trick 



wentworth's iron rule. 163 

upon the Irish. In accordance with the graces, he 
called together an Irish Parliament to con- „ 

_ Falkland's 

firm the concessions promised by Charles, rule in 
But now came the first of Charles's many Ireland - 
acts of perfidy towards Ireland. In the summoning 
of Parliament, certain legal requirements were pur- 
posely neglected; so that when the Houses met, they 
were declared to be an illegal Parliament, whose acts 
were null and void. They therefore dissolved, and 
no attempt was made by Falkland to call together a 
new and legal body. Soon after this, Falkland was 
recalled to England, because he was too tolerant 
towards the Catholics. 

A new and much sterner master was soon after- 
wards imposed upon Ireland. This was Sir Thomas 
Wentworth, afterwards more famous as „, 

Wentworth 

the earl of Strafford. Wentworth was a made lord- 
most fit instrument to carry out the wishes ieu enant ' 
of a tyrant. Bold, eloquent, iron-willed, haughty, un- 
scrupulous, despotic in character, defiant of obstacle, 
he went to Ireland to achieve certain ends, and 
stopped at no cruelty or deception in order to accom- 
plish them. He had belonged to the party which in 
England opposed the king, but the king won him 
over by a title and high office. Wentworth declared 
that his method was to be "thorough," in ruling both 
the church and the civil affairs. He took up his 
residence in Dublin castle, where he displayed much 
state, being attended by a large bodyguard, and 
bearing himself with arrogant pride. He first de- 



164 YOUXG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

manded of the Irish privy council a large grant of 
money for the king, promising that, if it were given, 
he would summon an Irish Parliament. 

To the letter of this promise Wentworth adhered. 
The Irish Houses were summoned, but the lord- 
„., . '. ,_ deputy took good care that the election of 

The Irish l J & 

Houses members should result as he wished. lie 

summone . r esolved that the House of Commons 
should be nearly balanced between the Protestants 
and Catholics, so that he might play off one against 
the other ; while a small body of his special adher- 
ents could turn any vote one way or the other, as he 
desired. When Parliament met, Wentworth, after 
dictating who should preside as its speaker, announced 
that there must be two sessions held. The first ses- 
sion was to be " for the crown," and the other "for the 
country." In the first session, the subject of granting 
money to the king would be considered ; in the sec- 
ond, the graces, which had been so long delayed, 
would be taken up. Parliament was really in Went- 
worth's power, and was forced to consent to this 
. . J . arrangement. In the first session, accord- 

Subsidies ° 

voted to the ingly, subsidies to the amount of ,£270,000 
were voted to the king. Some months 
after, the second session was held. But now Went- 
worth showed the utter bad faith of both his royal 
master and himself. He coolly told Parliament that 
the graces must not be passed, and, by adroitly set- 
ting the Protestants and Catholics by the ears, pro- 
cured a vote by which the graces were abandoned. 



WENTWORTIl's IRON RULE. 1 65 

Wentworth had now wrung from Parliament a 
large sum of money, which Charles most of all 
wanted. He .proceeded to carry out his scheme to 
be "thorough," with the same prompt and imperious 
vigor. The Protestant church in Ireland The protes- 
had fallen into a state of distress and tant Church - 
poverty. Many of its lands and other resources had 
been taken away under one or another pretext. Its 
edifices had in many places been abandoned, and had 
fallen into decay. Good men could not be persuaded 
to serve as clergymen. The pay of the clergy had 
fallen to a very low figure. Wentworth was deter- 
mined that all this should be changed, and that the 
church in Ireland should be built up anew. He 
caused the dilapidated churches to be repaired. He 
compelled those who had taken church-lands to re- 
store them. He made grants to the clergy from the 
lands held by the crown. In one instance, he ex- 
torted from the earl of Cork a- domain worth ,£2,000 
a year, which the earl had audaciously taken away 
from the college of Youghal and the diocese of 
Waterford. The lord-deputy's hand fell as sternly 
upon the recent English comers to Ireland, as upon 
the older settlers and the natives. 

The next task which Wentworth undertook was to 
get his grasp upon the estates of Connaught. The 
landlords of that province had thus far _ u 

1 The estates 

escaped by paying liberal sums of money of con- 

into the royal treasury. They now suffered naug 

the same gross injustice which had been inflicted on 



1 66 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

the landlords of Ulster, Leinster, and Minister. The 
titles to the lands, of Con naught were called in ques- 
tion. Went worth caused suits to be brought against 
them on behalf of the king. Cunning lawyers were 
employed to find flaws in these titles. Juries were 
packed and threatened, that they might slavishly 
decide the cases brought before them in the king's 
favor. In some places, however, the juries proved 
obstinate. When this happened, the* jurymen were 
heavily fined, and, in some instances, thrown into 
prison. Thus the estates of the earl of Clanricarde 
and of other large proprietors were declared to be 
forfeited. In the end the land-owners found Went- 
worth's methods too stern and unrelenting, and gave 
way in despair. 

But Wentworth did not have time to carry out the 
scheme of planting Connaught with English colonies, 
as the other provinces had been planted. The 
greater part of the lands, therefore, were allowed to 
remain in the hands of the former owners. But 
these owners had to pay heavily for the privilege of 
keeping what was justly their own. Some of them 
seizure of were forced to surrender a part of their 
lands. property to the church, in order to keep 

the rest. Others paid very large fines, that they might 
remain undisturbed. Many even of the English 
Protestants who had recently settled in Ireland felt 
the stress of Wentworth's tyranny. Lord Wilmot, 
one of the new nobles, was deprived of a part of his 
estates. Lord Loftus, one of the lords justices, and 



wentyvorth's iron rule. 167 

the son of a Protestant bishop, was expelled from his 
office for opposing the haughty lord-deputy's will ; 
and Sir Piers Crosby, an equally loyal Protestant, 
was for a similar reason driven from the privy 
council. 

But Charles was now in great trouble at home 
in England. His arbitrary conduct was being op- 
posed by a powerful and constantly growing party. 
His attempt to raise ship-money without consent of 
his Parliament was being vigorously resisted. All 
things foreshadowed the coming of a great civil con- 
flict. The Scots had risen in open revolt. Charles 
saw that no time was to be lost in defending his 
crown. He summoned Wentworth to London, re- 
ceived his report, created him earl of 

Went- 

Strafford, and sent him back to Ireland worth's 
with the higher powers of lord-lieutenant, increased 

powers. 

Wentworth at once proceeded to collect 
the Irish army, which he had raised to the number 
of nine thousand, and had caused to be well drilled 
and well provided, for the purpose of invading Scot- 
land. He summoned an Irish Parliament, which, 
obedient to his will, voted a large sum for the king's 
use. But while Wentworth was making these prepa- 
rations, Charles made peace with the Scots ; and his 
energetic measures became of no avail. 

Wentworth returned to England, to be soon after 
impeached by the famous " Long Parliament," con- 
victed, and beheaded for high treason. He left 
behind him in Ireland a hated memory. In some 



1 68 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

respects, he had been an able ruler. He maintained 
Wentwonh order in the island, and caused the laws 
as a ruier t0 ^ c impartially enforced. He did all he 
could to foster the linen trade, which, indeed, he 
established in Ireland, by importing weavers from 
Flanders, encouraging the growth of flax, and caus- 
ing mills to be erected. But, on the other hand, he 
stamped out the woollen trade, which he found to be 
a growing industry which might in time rival that 
of England. He went to Ireland, as he declared, to 
make the king "the most absolute potentate in 
Christendom," and had sought to carry out his pur- 
pose with grim vigor and perseverance. The Irish 
therefore, as well as the resident English, were re- 
joiced at his fall, and were glad to hear that he had 
died on the scaffold ; for no one had ever done more 
than he to fasten the odious rule of England upon 
Ireland. 



THE TEN YEARS' REBELLION. 169 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE TEN YEARS' REBELLION. 

THE long period of almost unbroken oppression 
and cruelty through which the Irish had passed 
since the accession of Elizabeth, had now prepared 
the way for another desperate revolt against English 
rule. The massacres and desolation of the unhappy 
island by Elizabeth's agents ; the pitiless incitements 
confiscations of estates, followed by the torevolt - 
planting of the land by James ; the brutal persecu- 
tion of the religion of the vast majority, by both ; 
and, more recently, the imperious tyranny of Went- 
worth, — had planted in the breasts of the Irish a deep- 
seated hatred of their English masters. Nor was it 
the native Irish alone who harbored this enduring 
hostility. It was shared also by the descendants of the 
first English settlers, — those whom we have called, 
to distinguish them from the natives, the Anglo-Irish. 
They, too, were Catholics, and had suffered for their 
faith in common with their Celtic neighbors. They, 
too, had been deprived of their fair domains, and had 
seen their relatives and friends put mercilessly to the 
sword. Only an opportunity was wanting to set the 
whole island in a blaze of rebellion. 



I70 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

This opportunity seemed to come with the politi- 
cal storm which had lately arisen in England. 
Charles and his Parliament had reached 
an open, bitter, and lasting quarrel The 

between l ' O I 

Charles and Puritans, the Independents, the Scottish 
ment arha " Presbyterians, were resolved to resist 
Charles's usurpation of powers which did 
not belong to the crown ; and Charles was equally 
determined not to yield. After his failure to seize 
five of the leading members of Parliament, Charles 
had left London ; and now England was on the very 
verge of civil war (1641). Went worth had mean- 
while been succeeded in the government of Ireland 
by two lords justices, Sir William Parsons and Sir 
John Borlase. Both of these men leaned to the side 
of Parliament as against the king, and they were 
both wanting in firmness and vigor of conduct. The 
characters and the desires of these new rulers of 
Ireland enabled the revolt to grow more formid- 
able than if they had been resolute, and loyal to 
Charles's crown. 

In the course of the long and unhappy years of 

Ireland's oppression, large numbers of Irishmen had 

left their native country, and had enlisted 

Irishmen in J 

foreign in the armies of foreign nations. Among 

them were many sons of the old Irish 
chiefs, as well as members of the long-settled Anglo- 
Irish families. They had served, often with conspicu- 
ous valor, on many fields, under the banners of Spain 
and France. Thus a multitude of Irishmen of mili- 



THE TEN YEARS' REBELLION. \J\ 

tary experience were on the continent, prepared, at 
the ripe moment, to carry the aid of their skilful 
arms to their own land. Two of the most noted of 
these Irish soldiers were Hugh O'Neil, the son of the 
brave Tyrone, and Rory O'More. Hugh O'Neil was 
killed at Brussels, while on his way to Ireland. But 
it always seemed that, when Ireland needed a valiant 
leader and a strong arm, the ancient royal house of 
O Neil was ready to supply them. Phelim O'Neil, a 
nephew of Tyrone, and a man of harsh and savage 
nature, took his cousin's place, as one of Rorv 
the Irish rebel chiefs. Rory O'More, how- °' More - 
ever, was the leading spirit of the revolt, which had 
been carefully planned, and was now to burst forth 
with great violence, and to last, with scarcely a 
pause, for the long period of ten years. 

Rory O'More was an Irish gentleman of old family. 
He was tall and handsome in person. His manners 
were free and attractive. He had displayed, as a 
soldier in the Spanish army, a courage and skill in 
warfare which won him much renown. He was a 
sincere and ardent patriot. So beloved and trusted 
was he by the Irish, that it was a common saying 
that the Irish rested their faith on "God, the 
Virgin, and Rory O'More." O'More soon drew to 
him a devoted band of Irish lords, gentlemen, and 
soldiers. To his standard came McGuires R evo it of 
and O'Neils, O'Reillys and McMahons, °' More - 
Dillons and O'Byrnes. Second among the leaders 
of the revolt was the brutal Phelim O'Neil. The 



1/2 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

plan of the revolt was soon decided upon, and was 
twofold. It was agreed that an attempt should be 
made to seize Dublin castle by surprise, and that, 
at the same time, a general rising should be made 
throughout the province of Ulster. O'More took 
command of the forces which were to be directed 
against the castle, and Phelira O'Neil was intrusted 
with the task of kindling rebellion in northern 
Ireland. 

The attempt upon the castle failed. A traitor in 
O'More's camp betrayed the plan to the lords jus- 
tices. The latter had thus far made no effort to 
quench the rebellion, though they knew it was about 
to break out. It is probable, indeed, that the lords 
justices wished to see a revolt, so that the lands of 
the leading rebels might be confiscated, in which 
case they hoped to receive their share. But they 
were forced to defend Dublin castle. Sufficient 
troops were hastily gathered, several leading rebels 
were arrested in Dublin, and O'More and his ad- 
Pheiim herents were forced to abandon their pro- 

o-Neii in ject. Phelim O'Neil, on the other hand, 
completely succeeded in his efforts in 
Ulster. The news soon arrived in Dublin that the 
whole province was in arms. In no long time, O'Neil 
was at the head of thirty thousand men. The greater 
part of this force was composed of those Irish who 
had been driven off the land, who had subsisted 
miserably in the bogs and woods, and who had thus 
become vagrants and outlaws. They were, indeed, 



THE TEN YEARS REBELLION. 1 73 

a mob of desperate, ill-conditioned men, for the most 
part armed only with knives and pitchforks, but 
who burned to avenge themselves upon the English 
intruders in the land. 

The war in Ulster at once assumed a horrible, bar- 
barous character. On both sides the most hideous 
cruelties were committed. Which side began the 
awful series of massacres which took place, cannot 
now be definitely decided. Two massacres occurred 
at nearly the same time. The English fell upon the 
unprotected Irish at Island Magee, and included in 
their slaughter the aged, the sick, women, and little 
children. Phelim O'Neil, who was promptly joined 
by many of the old Ulster chiefs, spread a not less 
ruthless havoc through Tyrone. He attacked the 
English settlements, plundered and burned their 
houses, stripped men, women, and children, and, in 
the dead of winter, drove them naked into the woods 
and bogs and along the cheerless roads ; and in 
some places mercilessly mutilated and hanged them. 
Many of the poor creatures, expelled from their 
homes, died of cold and starvation, as they were 
attempting to reach a place of safety. Failing to 
capture Enniskillen and Lisburn, O'Neil o'Neii's 
became savage with rage, and wreaked his atr0Clties - 
fury upon every English village and town in his 
way. The entire English and Scottish inhabitants 
of three parishes were murdered. The town of 
Newry and the cathedral of Armagh were burned 
to the ground. Sometimes women and children 



174 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

were burned alive in the houses in which they had 
sought refuge. 

But there were, happily, brighter sides to the 

picture. In some places the Catholic priests, at the 

risk of their lives, sheltered and fed the English 

fugitives, and aided them in their flight. Some of 

the Irish chiefs, too, although leaders in 

Mild treat- in- t^ 

ment of coio- the rebellion, treated the English with 
nists by true Christian gentleness. O'Reillv, who 

O'Reilly. ° . J ' 

had headed the revolt in Cavan, did not 
kill any of the English, even in battle. He took the 
settlers prisoners, but had them escorted in safety 
to Dublin by some of his own soldiers. In many 
cases, too, the native Irish, though poor, and suffer- 
ing grievously from the wrongs inflicted on them by 
the English, afforded protection and nourishment to 
the settlers as they fled from their homes. It is sup- 
posed that the number of persons slaughtered by 
Phelim O'Neil, and the other chiefs who followed his 
brutal example, was between four and live thousand ; 
and that eight thousand died from cold and hunger. 
Great numbers of the fugitives from Ulster flocked, 
Fugitives in naked, cold, and starving, into Dublin, 
Dublin. bringing with them the horrible tale of 

the burnings, massacres, and desolation they had left 
behind. But soon the lords deputies drove these 
fugitives, though loyal, out of Dublin ; and, thus re- 
duced to extremity, many of them joined hands with 
the rebels. 

The revolt in Ireland soon assumed a twofold char- 



THE TEN YEARS REBELLION. 1 75 

acter. It had been begun by native Irish chiefs and 
their adherents. But now a revolt, quite separate 
from that of the native Irish, sprang up among the 
Anglo-Irish. The two did not unite their forces, or 
pursue a common plan of campaign. Each had its 
own separate aims, projects, and movements. The 
native Irish wished to achieve the entire and abso- 
lute independence of their country. The The Angio- 
larger number of the Anglo-Irish did not Irish - 
desire separation from England. They still professed 
to be loyal to the crown. They only made war, they 
declared, upon the king's representatives and agents. 
They simply demanded freedom of worship, and se- 
curity in their estates. They fought for their altars 
and their homes. On the other hand, the English 
and Scots who comprised the officials, officers, and 
soldiers in Ireland, were divided into two parties, 
between whom the breach became wider and wider 
every day. There was the party which supported 
the king in his struggle with Parliament ; and there 
was the party which sustained Parliament against 
the king. Of the latter party were the lords jus- 
tices. 

The earl of Ormond, a friend of the king, was 
put in command of the forces in Ireland. One of* 
the curious entanglements of the rebellion was, that 
Charles, in his desperation, wished to conciliate the 
rebels, in order that he might withdraw his troops 
for use against the Puritans in England. On the 
other hand, the lords justices, who wished for an 



1/5 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTOXY OF IRELAND. 

excuse to confiscate the land, were listless in their 
attempts to put clown the rebellion. The rising 
gradually spread from Ulster to Munster, and to 
Connaught, and finally into the English Pale itself. 
Seven lords of the Pale, with one thousand men of 
good station, held a conference with Rory O'More 
and his chiefs on Crofty Hill ; and, soon after, the 
The Pale in entire Pale was honeycombed with revolt, 
revolt. A t j-^g c ] ose f the y ear (1641), the whole 

country, excepting Dublin and a few of the seaport 
and garrisoned towns, was covered by the rebellion. 
But Phelim O'Neil had not only practised the most 
barbarous atrocities, for which he had been severely 
censured by the Catholic synod of Armagh, but had 
also shown much lack of capacity in war. 

The Irish chiefs accordingly appealed earnestly to 
Owen Roe O'Neil, Phelim's cousin, who was then in 
Flanders, to come over and take command of the 
insurgent army. Owen O'Neil, or, as he was famil- 
iarly called, " Red Owen," was a famous 

Red Owen. J . 

soldier, and a chivalrous, large-hearted, 
honest man. Soon after his arrival in Ireland, a 
wonderful change took place in the Irish forces. 
The wild levies of Phelim were transformed into 
sturdy, well-disciplined battalions. Re-enforcements 
kept coming from the continent ; and, at about the 
same time, another soldier of mark, Colonel Preston, 
accompanied by five hundred military officers and a 
large quantity of stores, set out from the Pale to join 
the Anglo-Irish revolt at Wexford. Up to this time, 



THE TEN YEARS REBELLION. \JJ 

the native Irish on the one hand, and the Anglo-" 
Irish on the other, had fought the English separately. 
The time had now come for them to join in common 
action. 

A great convention, composed of members from 
every part of Ireland, was summoned by the Ulster 
Catholics, and met at Kilkenny (October, _. 

J v The conven- 

1642). It contained the Catholic lords, a tion of 
large number of Catholic bishops and ' enny ' 
priests, and over two hundred lay delegates. This 
convention invested the executive power in a com- 
mittee, consisting of six members from each of the 
four provinces. It divided the army into four divis- 
ions. To Red Hugh was given the command in 
Ulster. Gerald Barry received that of Minister, Col- 
onel Preston that of Leinster, and Sir John Burke 
that of Connaught. The convention also created a 
high court, and made provision for its sessions, and 
appointed lesser judges and magistrates for the sev- 
eral counties. A great seal was devised, and the 
convention even took measures to coin Irish money. 
Thus an Irish government seemed to be established. 
Yet the convention, while thus taking energetic 
measures to organize civil war, declared that the war 
was not to be waged against the king, but against 
the Puritans, and in defence of the Roman-Catholic 
faith. 



1/8 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

cromwell's iron hand. 

IN spite of the strong alliance between the two 
sections of the Irish, there was but little severe 
fighting done anywhere in Ireland. King Charles, 
sorely pressed by his Puritan enemies in England, 
and learning that his army in Ireland was in a miser- 
able state, was anxious to come to terms with the 
"confederates," as the combined Irish were called. 
At last his agents succeeded in persuading, them to 
a year's make a truce of a year (1643). The lords 
truce. deputies, who were favorable to Parliament, 

and their adherents, were removed from office ; and 
Ormond, who was created a marquis, was appointed 
lord-lieutenant. A few months after, the truce was 
extended to two years longer. Each party continued 
to occupy the places in which the truce found it. 
The confederates agreed to give Charles .£30,000, and 
to supply him with some troops for service in Scot- 
land. Soon after the truce had been con- 
Dissensions 

among the eluded, however, serious dissensions broke 

out between the confederates themselves. 

One party, headed by Red Owen, still wished to 



CROMWELL S IRON HAND. 179 

break from England altogether, and to strike for Irish 
independence. The other party, composed mostly of 
the Anglo-Irish, desired to come to terms with the 
king, after securing freedom of worship and the peace- 
ful possession of their lands. An envoy of the pope, 
Rinucini, came to Ireland, and gave his influence to 
the party which wished to make Ireland entirely free. 

At the conclusion of the truce (1646), the conflict 
broke out anew. Red Owen inflicted a severe defeat 
upon Munroe, the Scottish general, at Benburb ; and 
later, being joined by Preston, he marched on Dublin. 
The defences of the city were weak ; and news had 
reached Ormond, who was in command, that Charles 
had been surrendered by the Scots to Parliament. 
Many of the Puritan vessels were now cruising in St. 
George's Channel. Ormond declared that the royal 
cause was wholly lost. Meanwhile the two Irish 
generals, Red Owen and Preston, quarrelled bitterly ; 
and, fearing defeat, they raised the siege of Dublin. 
Ormond knew that to hold out any longer for the 
king would be futile. He therefore gave surrender of 
Dublin up to the friends of Parliament, Dublm - 
and took refuge in France. The parliamentary 
forces promptly took the field to suppress the rebel- 
lion. Preston was defeated with a heavy loss at 
Dungan Hill, and soon after the Irish forces were 
again badly beaten at Mallow. The cause of the 
rebellion was fast losing ground. 

The moderate, or Anglo-Irish, party once more 
made terms with the royalists, and turned against 



I So YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

O'Ncil and the friends of Irish independence. The 
royal cause was utterly defeated in England. It was 
resolved to make a last desperate stand for the king 
0:1 Irish soil. Ormond returned from France ; and 
prince Rupert, the king's nephew, arrived at the 
port of Kinsale with sixteen men-of-war. A treaty 
of peace was concluded between the royalists and 
the Anglo-Irish under Preston (1649). Soon after 
the news that Charles had been beheaded reached 
Ireland. Ormond at once proclaimed the young 
Three idsh king as Charles the Second. Three par- 
parties. ^ies now contended for the upper hand in 

Ireland, — the champions of Irish freedom under 
O'Neil, the parliamentary or Puritan party, and the 
royalists allied with the Anglo-Irish. The latter 
party was also joined by the Ulster Scots, who were 
Presbyterians ; for the Presbyterians in Scotland and 
England had now quarrelled with the Puritans. At 
first the fortunes of war leaned to the side of the 
royalists and their confederates, Inchiquin took 
Drogheda, and Ormond laid siege to Dublin. It 
looked very much as if the Puritans would soon lose 
altogether their hold on Ireland. 

At this serious moment, the English Parliament 
resolved that a most vigorous effort should be made, 
without delay, to crush out the Irish revolt. With 
this end in view, the most famous and most victorious 
onver general of the parliamentary armies, Oliver 

Cromwell. Cromwell, was chosen lord-lieutenant and 
general-in-chief of the English troops in Ireland. 



CROMWELL S IRON HAND. l8l 

Cromwell had at his disposal a remarkable army. 
He had organized the parliamentary troops into one 
of the most effective military forces which had ever 
fought in Europe. With his sturdy " Ironsides," as 
they were called, he had marched from triumph to 
triumph, and had finally crushed the royal power at 
the battle of Naseby. It was the best portion of 
this formidable army which he now led to Ireland. 
The Ironsides were deeply religious, as well as heroic 
in battle ; and Cromwell proposed not only to con- 
quer, but to convert, the Irish. He carried the Bible 
in one hand, the sword in the other. With him went 
his stern son-in-law Ireton, his indolent son Henry, 
and the fanatical Puritan Ludlow. 

Cromwell entered Dublin at the head of twelve 
thousand Ironsides. They were well equipped and 
well provisioned, and were supplied with _ „, 

1 L l The " Iron- 

BibleS, as well as with the deadly weapons sides" in 

of war. The royalists still held the strong- 
hold of Drogheda, and Cromwell's first blow was 
struck at that place. Drogheda soon fell beneath 
the irresistible attack of the Ironsides. Cromwell 
had promised the garrison their lives ; but no sooner 
did he find himself in possession of the town, than 
he put to the sword, not the garrison alone, but the 
inhabitants, even to the women and children. Five 
days were spent in this cruel and hideous massacre. 
It was by such barbarous methods that Cromwell 
resolved to stamp out rebellion in Ireland. The 
frightful carnasre of Drosrheda was soon succeeded 



132 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

by similar scenes at Wexford. The castle of Wex- 
ford was betrayed into Cromwell's hands ; the guns 
of the fortifications were turned upon the 

The mas- l 

sacre of devoted town ; the garrison was merci- 

lessly slaughtered in the streets ; some 
of the townspeople, who tried to escape in boats, 
were drowned ; and Wexford was given up to merci- 
less pillage and outrage. It is said that two thou- 
sand of the garrison fell victims to the fury of the 
Ironsides. 

The gallant Red Owen was now dead. The two 
Irish parties, which had joined to resist the English, 
had been rent asunder. The almost unparalleled 
atrocities of Cromwell created a wild panic of dread 
throughout Ireland. As the grim leader of the Iron- 
sides advanced through the country, the strongholds 
of the patriots and royalists fell easily into his hands. 
Cromwell, with all his cruelty, was strictly honest in 
his dealings. He paid for the supplies which the 
country folk brought to him, and thus his army was 
well fed and well clothed wherever it marched. 
Within a year he had dealt a death-blow at the re- 
. sistance of the Irish. He returned to 

Conquest of 

Ireland by England to fight the Scots, leaving his 
romwe . gon j-j enrv as lord-lieutenant, and Ireton 
as commanding-general. The last stand made by 
the baffled and defeated Irish was in the western 
part of the island. There they still held out obsti- 
nately. Ireton, like Cromwell, was cruel and pitiless. 
Murder and desolation attended his every triumph. 



cromwell's iron hand. 183 

At last, with the fall of Galway (1652), the ten-years' 
revolt came to an end, and all Ireland lay once more 
bound hand and foot at England's feet. 

Cromwell resolved to make the most of his con- 
quest of the subject island. He proposed to reap 
the full fruits of his victory. He was determined 
that the Irish should never have a chance to rise 
again. At first, he even considered a plan for sweep- 
ing the entire Irish race from the face of the earth, 
and to re-people the island entirely with English and 
Scots. But this seemed, even to his grim soul, too 
barbarous a remedy. The measures which he did 
take were stern and severe. Phelim O'Neil, Lord 
Mayo, and other leaders of the revolt were ^ 

-' Execution of 

executed. At the same time a vast scheme the Irish 
of removing nearly the whole body of the 
Irish from the fruitful provinces of Ulster, Leinster, 
and Munster, into the inclement and far less fertile 
province of Connaught, was vigorously carried out. 
Not only the common people were thus transferred, 
but the lo v ds, land-owners, and men of good family ; 
not only the native Irish, but the Anglo-Irish also. 
Pieces of land in Connaught were given to the exiles. 
A date was fixed, before which every family must 
remove from its home, and repair to the place allotted 
to it in Connaught. It was decreed that the men 
should precede their families to their new and dismal 
homes ; and, when they had built huts for them, the 
old men, women, children, cattle, and household 
eroods were to follow. 



184 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Those of the Irish who failed to obey these harsh 
decrees were condemned to be executed. Not only 
this. They were forbidden to go into the city of 
Galway, or to approach within four miles of the sea 
on one side, or within two miles of the river Shannon 
„, , . . on the other, on pain of death. The 

I he Irish t 

expelled to wretched, desolate regions of Connaught 

Connaught. . . . . T . . rr 

were soon swarming with the Irish, suner- 
ing and sometimes dying of cold and hunger. They 
found it no easy task even to get possession of the 
lands which had been allotted to them. It was only, 
often, by paying money to Cromwell's soldiers, that 
they were allowed to occupy their miserable patches. 
Then, in. the spring (1654), one of the saddest spec- 
tacles ever seen on earth was witnessed in Ireland. 
Long trains of old men, invalids, women, children, 
ill-clad and gaunt with hunger, trudged wearily west- 
ward along the muddy roads, amid storms of rain 
and hail. Whole communities of the Irish thus 
abandoned their ancient homes, and reached their 
Terrible new abodes to live in dreadful want upon 

sufferings. almost barren lands, or to die, as very 
many did, of unendurable hardships. The three 
provinces of Ulster, Munster, and Leinster were all 
but stripped of their Irish and Anglo-Irish popula- 
tion ; and the Irish race was pent up, as in a huge 
prison, between the Shannon and the ocean. 

Meanwhile, the soldiers who had taken part, either 
as patriots or under the royalist banners, were rigor- 
ously dealt with. The higher officers were sent into 



Cromwell's iron hand. 185 

exile, and deprived of two-thirds of their property. 
The lesser officers and soldiers were forced to give 
up what lands they had, and to accept far less fertile 
lands in Connaught. Many of the soldiers resorted 
to the bogs and woods, where they became outlaws 
and robbers. These were called " Tories," The 
which meant in Irish, "freebooters;" and " Tories " 
this is the origin of the English word "Tory." But 
by far the greater number of the Irish soldiers went 
to the continent, where they enlisted in the French 
or Spanish army. It is said that more than forty 
thousand took this course. Meanwhile, an atrocious 
act was committed by Cromwell's agents. Seven 
thousand Irish women and children were seized, put 
on board ships, and sent to the West Indies. The 
boys were sold as slaves to the West-Indian planters, 
and the women and girls were destined to even a 
baser and more cruel end. Thus the way was pre- 
pared for a new plantation of Ireland by English 
colonists. 



1 86 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

cromwell's settlement of Ireland. 

CROMWELL and his agents did their cruel work 
in Ireland thoroughly. Not only were the 
country districts of the three fertile provinces cleared 
of their inhabitants, but the fortified and sea-coast 
towns were treated in the same way. The once pros- 
perous, thriving ports ceased to be busy with trade, 
or crowded with shipping. The Irish mer- 
insh trade chants of Cork, Waterford, Galway, and 
and other sea-coast towns, abandoned them, 

commerce. . 

and transferred their business to foreign 
countries. The emporiums of Kilkenny and Tip- 
perary were deserted, and the market-towns of the 
interior were silent and desolate. All was now ready 
to replant the provinces with new settlers, and so, if 
possible, to make an English country of Ireland. 
Surveyors were sent through the provinces to make 
measurements of the deserted domains. Agents 
visited them to decide upon their value, put a price 
on them, and divide them off into new allotments. 
All the towns, certain of the church domains, and the 
(our counties of Dublin, Cork, Carlow, and Kildare, 



Cromwell's settlement of Ireland. 187 

were set off, to be held for the benefit of the gov- 
ernment. The rest was disposed of to The "ad- 
new English settlers ; some of whom were venturer3 -" 
now called, not as formerly, undertakers, but, from 
their having lent or "adventured" money to the 
king, "adventurers." 

There were two classes of men to whom Cromwell 
felt himself indebted. He had received large ad- 
vances of money, and the adventurers who had thus 
become his creditors demanded liberal grants of 
Irish land in payment. But still more was Cromwell 
indebted to his soldiers, who had not only completed 
for him the conquest of Ireland, but had not received 
their pay. It was with the grim Iron- 

1 11 1 1 Ireland 

sides, mainly, that he resolved to plant the p i ante d by 
island. To the adventurers, who had ad- the Iron " 

. , sides. 

vanced some ,£360,000, were given up the 
halves of ten counties in Ulster, Leinster, and Mun- 
ster ; while the arrears of the soldiers' pay, amount- 
ing to £1,500,000, were satisfied by the other halves 
of these counties, and eight other counties in addi- 
tion. The land was divided up into parcels ; and the 
regiments, one after another, drew lots for the choice 
of location. Then the men of the regiments again 
drew lots, to see which should have the privilege of 
selecting his own plot in the district devoted to his 
regiment. After the lands had thus been divided 
off, each regiment was marched upon its domains 
and disbanded ; and the men took possession, one by 
one, of their pieces of land. 



l88 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

It took several years to complete this new settle- 
ment of Ireland. Meanwhile many of the soldiers 
to whom lots were given were glad to sell them out 
for small sums, either to their officers, who desired 
larger estates, or to the land-brokers who soon 
swarmed through the country. When Cromwell's 
plan had been fully carried out, the land of Ireland 
Division of was found to be divided up as follows. In 
Irish land. a ]^ there were about ten millions of Irish 
acres in the island. Of these, the native Irish oc- 
cupied about three millions, for the most part in the 
unfruitful province of Con naught. The Protestant 
church held about three hundred thousand acres. 
The planters, established by Elizabeth and James, 
had some two millions of acres ; and over five mil- 
lions of acres — at least one-half the island — had 
been seized by Cromwell, and handed over to his ad- 
herents. But the new settlers were not to be allowed 
to till their just-acquired possessions in any greater 
peace than the old settlers. Many of the ousted 
Irish, some of whom were of good family and had 
been even rich and titled, refused to leave their 
native neighborhood, and began to lead a wild life 
in the woods and bogs. These Tories did not let 
Raids of the the intruders rest. They made raids 
Tones. upon the fields, and destroyed the ripen- 

ing grain and potatoes. They seized and drove away 
the cattle, sheep, and pigs. In many places, the 
settlers were tormented out of their wits by these 
hardy outlaws. 



cromwell's settlement of Ireland. 189 

Nor were the Irish outlaws the only enemies of 
the settlers. Large numbers of Catholic priests still 
infested the country, though they were all under 
sentence of banishment. They were resolved at all 
hazards to keep alive their religion among the perse- 
cuted race ; and, always in danger of death itself, 
they led their pious services in whatever out-of-the- 
way place they could secretly gather their The 
poverty-stricken flocks together. They scribed 
were mercilessly hunted down ; and, when pm 
they were arrested, they were forthwith sent beyond 
seas, or put to death without so much as a trial. 
Another plague which worried the settlers was the 
wolves, which continually prowled about the settle- 
ments, devoured the sheep, and endangered the lives 
of the farmers. " We have now three burdensome 
beasts to destroy," said one who lived at that time ; 
" the first is a wolf, the second a priest, and the third 
a Tory." A price was set upon the head of each of 
these "burdensome beasts." The head of a priest 
or a wolf was worth five pounds, while that of a Tory 
was worth twenty pounds. 

But after all these pains had been taken to subdue 
and suppress the Irish race, Cromwell's vast and 
harsh project was far from being completely success- 
ful. The national spirit of the Irish still resisted ex- 
termination. In no long time, the same process of 
the absorption of the intruding race by the native 
race which had always taken place before, again oc- 
curred. The settled English soldiers, though forbid- 



I90 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY G7 IRELAND. 

den, under heavy penalties, to mingle and connect 
themselves with the native Irish, began to have deal- 
ings with them, to accept Irishmen as tenants, ser- 
vants, and laborers, and to marry Irish girls. It is 
Fusion of said that, within forty years after Crom- 
the races. well's plantation of the three provinces, 
many children of the settlers could not speak a word 
of English ; that all of their habits, traits, and sympa- 
thies were entirely Irish. Here and there the native 
Irish and the Anglo-Irish got back, by marriage or 
purchase, estates in the districts from which their 
fathers had been expelled. Thus it was that even 
the stern Ironsides became more and more Irish as 
years passed. 

The restoration of the English monarchy in the 
person of Charles the Second (1660) aroused the 
D . .. hopes of two of the oppressed classes in 

Restoration r 1 ' 

of Charles Ireland. The royalists, who had stood 
stoutly by Charles the First, and who had 
suffered persecution, the seizure of their lands, and 
exile at the hands of Cromwell and his Puritan 
agents, hoped that the new king would reward them 
for their loyalty. They expected to get back their 
estates, and to be restored to their old power in 
Ireland. The Roman Catholic Irish, moreover, had 
learned that Charles the Second was favorably in- 
clined to the members of their faith. They, too, 
looked forward to being protected in the exercise of 
their religion, and to having their lands given back 
to them. So confident, indeed, were the persecuted 



CROMWELL S SETTLEMENT OF IRELAND. IQI 

Irish of the royal favor, that as soon as they heard 
that the new king was seated on his throne, some 
of them rashly attempted to recover their lands by 
force. At the same time the Catholics besought 
Charles to return their estates to them, agreeing to 
pay the Cromwellian settlers a certain proportion of 
the rents for two years. But both the royalists and 
the Catholics were doomed to bitter disappointment. 

Charles the Second, like all the Stuart kings of 
England, was faithless, and could not be trusted. He 
disregarded whatever obligations were distasteful to 
him, or were contrary to what he thought his own 
interests. He now resolved to conciliate, as far as he 
could, his father's old enemies, and to leave in the 
lurch his father's old friends. He made a pretence, 
indeed, of doing justice to the Irish who _ u , , 

J Charles s 

had been harshly and illegally deprived of treatment of 
their property. He caused a court to be 
established in Dublin (1663), to which all who claimed 
to have been unlawfully dispossessed of their lands 
might resort, and present their claims. It was de- 
clared that those who were innocent of having re- 
belled against English rule should have their estates 
restored to them. The Protestants • took alarm at 
this, and a plot was soon formed to seize Dublin 
castle. But it soon turned out that the Protestants 
had little cause for alarm. All sorts of restrictions 
were put upon the new court ; and every kind of legal 
device and trickery was used to reduce the successful 
claimants to as small a number as possible. 



I92 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

The Irish Parliament had met, two years before, 
for the first time [or twenty years. The House of 
Commons had contained a large majority of the 
Cromwellians, and a measure which confirmed the 
new settlers in their lands had been passed. Upon 
this act the Cromwellians rested their case. There 
existed, therefore, a bitter conflict between the law 
of Parliament, and the decisions of the court in 
claims to favor of " innocent " claimants. So grave 
Irish land. ^[j {. ne situation become, that the king at 
last insisted on a compromise. The Cromwellian 
settlers gave up one-third of the lands which they 
had obtained by the confiscations, and thus much was 
restored to the royalists ; and the court which had 
been set up to satisfy the claims was abolished. But 
even now, the Irish Roman Catholics only held one- 
half the amount of land which they had held at the 
outbreak of the ten years' rebellion. They still 
owned but one-third of the island. The foreigner 
and the Protestant still held the other two-thirds. 
Of the seven millions of good, or "fat," acres in 
Ireland, the Protestants possessed five millions. 

One of Charles the Second's first acts in regard 
to Ireland, was-to restore to its old power the Eng- 
_,. „ . lish church. The Episcopal bishops and 

The Protes- i r 1 

tant church clergy were restored to the sees and 
parishes, and the Puritan and Presbyterian 
ministers were summarily ejected. In many cases, 
they were fined, imprisoned, and banished for refus- 
ing to obey the new "act of uniformity." At the 



CROMWELL S SETTLEMENT OF IRELAND. 1 93 

same time, Charles was really partial to the Catholics, 
and ordered his agents in Ireland to treat them 
gently. Under such protection, the priests and 
monks, who had been driven from their parishes, and 
in many cases from the island, by the Cromwellians, 
began to appear again, to hold their religious ser- 
vices, and to establish Catholic schools. The Catho- 
lics, indeed, now enjoyed a larger degree of freedom 
of worship than they had had for fifty years. The 
Presbyterians and Puritans in Ireland were now the 
only sects which felt the repressive hand of power. 



194 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE ORANGE AND THE GREEN. 

JUST as the Irish Catholics were beginning to 
enjoy some degree of toleration, an event took 
place in England, which for a while seemed likely 
to overwhelm the Catholics of both countries with 
disaster. This was the infamous plot of Titus Oates, 
Plot of Titus who pretended to have discovered a Catho- 
oates. ]j c conspiracy to kill the king, the duke 

of York, and others, and to seize on the government 
(1678). Oates also declared that this conspiracy ex- 
tended to Ireland, that all the Protestants in Ireland 
were to be massacred, and that a French fleet was 
about to arrive in Irish ports. The whole story was 
afterwards proved to be an atrocious lie, invented by 
Oates. But, for a time, it aroused an intense fear 
and anger among the English Protestants ; and, both 
in England and in Ireland, the Catholics were bitterly 
persecuted. The Irish Catholics were disarmed ; all 
the Catholic bishops and priests were ordered to quit 
the island ; heavy penalties were threatened against 
soldiers who attended Catholic services ; and the 
Catholics in the large towns were compelled to go 
outside the walls. 



THE ORANGE AND THE GREEN. 1 95 

But after a while the panic of the Protestants 
subsided. It was found that Oates's plot was a fable, 
and that many innocent Catholics had suffered death 
and other miseries from the hasty anger of the people. 
Then the Irish Catholics returned to a tolerable state 
of religious freedom ; and once more the priests 
flocked back, to say mass, and dwell among their 
flocks. The death of Charles the Second (1685) was 
followed by the accession to the English throne of a 
Roman Catholic, in the person of James j am es the 
the Second. James was the first avowed Second - 
Catholic who had sat on the throne since queen Mary. 
His accession was therefore hailed with joy by the 
Irish Catholics, although time soon proved that it was 
a great misfortune to them. James speedily showed 
that he meant to establish Catholic ascendancy, both 
in England and Ireland. Although he appointed a 
Protestant, lord Clarendon, lord-lieutenant of Ire- 
land, he selected a violent Catholic, Richard Talbot 
(who is better known in history by his title of earl 
of Tyrconnel), to command the Irish army. 

James began to carry out his plans by replacing 
Protestant by Catholic officers in the army. Then, 
contrary to law, he appointed Catholic , 

•' L x James favors 

judges, privy councillors, and magistrates ; the Irish 
and the charters of the Irish cities and 
towns were so altered as to admit Catholics to the 
offices from which they had hitherto been excluded. 
The Irish Catholics took courage from these acts. 
They asked the king to abolish the " act of settle- 



10 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

ment," under which the Cromwellian settlers had 
been confirmed in their estates ; and the Irish 
Tories, or outlaws, became emboldened, and made 
savage raids upon the English colonists, murdering, 
burning, and pillaging wherever they appeared. The 
Irish tenants refused to pay their rents ; and through- 
out the country the Protestants, fearing a terrible 
retribution for the wrongs to which the Irish had 
been long subjected, fled for safety within the walled 
towns. Clarendon, the Protestant lord-lieutenant, 
was recalled ; and the power in Ireland was given to 
Tyrconnei in the fanatical Catholic, Tyrconnel. The 
Ireland. Protestants saw that worse than had hap- 

pened was yet to come to them. Tyrconnel was 
known to be inveterately hostile to them, and to be 
sternly bent on restoring the upper hand to the 
Catholics. They therefore fled in thousands from 
Ireland, and it seemed certain that the Catholics 
were soon to become all-powerful there. 

But events in England now put an entirely different 
face upon the affairs of both islands. James had 
become thoroughly detested by the enormous major- 
ity of his English subjects. His tyrannical and 
illegal acts had at length worn out the loyalty, even 
of the Tory party, who had always before stood by 
him. A plot was formed to dethrone him, and to 
place William, prince of Orange, and his wife Mary, 
The English daughter of James, on the throne. The 
revolution. revolution was quickly and completely ac- 
complished. William landed in England, marched to 



THE ORANGE AND THE GKEEN. IQ7 

London without fighting a battle, and took posses- 
sion of the throne (1688). James fled from the palace 
of his fathers, seeking refuge in France. William 
was the champion of Protestantism in Europe, and 
his accession carried dismay to the Catholics through- 
out England and Ireland. But Tyrconnel was made 
of stern stuff, and, even after the flight of James, was 
not ready to yield Ireland up to the new king without 
a struggle. He promptly raised a voluntary force of 
nearly one hundred thousand Irish Catholics, and 
sent word to James that he proposed to hold out in 
his favor. Meanwhile many of the Protestants in 
the north of Ireland, seeing that they were not 
strong enough to meet Tyrconnel in the open field, 
hastened to seek safety within the walled strong- 
holds of Londonderry and Enniskillen. There they 
awaited their fate with grim and determined courage. 
The exiled James resolved to fight to recover his 
crown, on Irish soil. There was still a strong party 
in England and Scotland, which remained loyal to 
him. He thought that if he could make a successful 
stand in Ireland, his friends across the channel might 
yet rail)', and drive the prince of Orange from the 
throne. James accordingly set sail for j a mes lands 
Ireland. With him went a fleet of twenty- in Ireland - 
three vessels, in which was stored a large quantity 
of arms and ammunition, and which carried one hun- 
dred French officers and twelve hundred Irish exiles, 
and ;£ 1 1 2,000 in money. He was aided and encour- 
aged in his expedition by Louis the Fourteenth, the 



I98 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

French king, who, as the Catholic leader in Europe, 
was the mortal enemy of William of Orange. James, 
attended by his two illegitimate sons, the duke of 
Berwick and the prior Fitz James, landed in Kinsale 
harbor (March 12, 1689), and advanced, greeted 
along his route by the fervid enthusiasm of the 
Irish, to Cork and thence to Dublin. As soon as he 
reached the capital, he summoned an Irish Parlia- 
ment, which met two months later. 

Both the Houses of this Parliament contained an 
overwhelming majority of Catholics, and two-thirds 
of the Commons were Anglo-Irish. Such a Parlia- 
ment was likely to support James, and 

James sup- 
ported by the also to take care that the rights of Ireland 
insh Parha- snou ] c i b e secured in the event of James's 

ment. J 

return to the English throne. The law 
known as Poyning's Act, which required that all 
Irish measures must first be submitted to and ap- 
proved by the English council, was promptly repealed. 
Religious liberty was decreed. Safeguards for Irish 
trade were adopted. Above all, the act of settlement, 
securing the Cromwellians in their lands, was abol- 
ished ; and it was declared that all Catholics who had 
been land-owners before 1641 should recover their 
estates. Having thus satisfied the demands made 
by the Irish, Parliament proceeded to make a grant 
of ,£40,000 a month to the king, with which to carry 
on his war. The last act of this Parliament was to 
attaint over two thousand men of high treason. 
These were, mostly, men who had either left Ire- 



THE ORANGE AND THE GREEN. 1 99 

land, or had gone over to William of Orange. 
Meanwhile the struggle between the Irish adherents 
of James, and those of the Prince of Orange, was 
going vigorously on. The place to which all eyes 
were turned was Londonderry, where the Protestants 
were holding out obstinately against their assailants. 
James himself repaired thither with some siege of Lon- 
troops, and the governor of Londonderry donderr y- 
decided to yield up the town. But the people would 
not permit this. They deposed the governor by 
force, and chose a clergyman named Walker in his 
place. 

Still, the siege reduced the town to desperate 
straits ; and it would have surrendered, had not aid 
from England opportunely arrived by sea. The 
siege of Londonderry was thus raised, and the Irish 
retreated (July, 1689). The campaign lingered list- 
lessly through the autumn and winter. General 
Schomberg, a distinguished officer devoted to Wil- 
liam, went to Ireland with four thousand men. But in 
both camps there was a great deal of misery. The 
Irish troops were ill-equipped, ill-fed, and unaccus- 
tomed to war ; and the French soldiers did not get 
on well with them. On the other hand, the English 
under Schomberg suffered sorely from illness con- 
tracted in the clamp regions where they 

1 ° J William of 

were encamped, and died by hundreds, orange 
In the early summer (1690), William of 
Orange, who had become impatient at the 
lack of the success of his troops in Ireland, landed 



invades 
Ireland. 



200 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

at Carrickfergus with a disciplined army of forty 
thousand men. Meanwhile a French force of five 
thousand men, commanded by the famous Count 
de Lauzun, arrived to lend aid to James. It was 
evident that the fate of one English king or the 
other must soon be decided once for all on Irish 
soil. 



THE TREATY OF LIMERICK. 20J 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE TREATY OF LIMERICK. 

WILLIAM of Orange, with his large and well- 
appointed army, marched promptly southward 
to confront his rival. The hostile forces met on the 
banks of the river Boyne. William's force, besides 
being far better trained and equipped, was also 
somewhat larger than that of James. Thirty-six 
thousand soldiers, comprising men of sev- Battle of the 
eral nations, fought under William for what B °y ne - 
was regarded as the Protestant cause ; while thirty 
thousand Irish and French supported the exiled Stu- 
art. William, moreover, had forty cannon, while 
James had only twelve. On the other hand, James 
held the southern bank of the Boyne, and William 
was forced to lead his men across the river in the 
face of the Irish fire. The struggle was desperate 
and prolonged. The Irish fought with lion-like valor 
against superior odds. William himself most gal- 
lantly advanced into the river at the head of his men, 
while James witnessed the struggle from a safe dis- 
tance. Although wounded, the new English king 
remained, throughout the battle, in the front of his 



2C2 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

forces. At last the Irish gave way, retreating by 
steady ranks. But the cowardly James, as soon as 
he saw that the battle had gone against him, hastily 
deserted his faithful soldiers, galloped off to Dublin, 
and was the first of the fugitives to enter its walls. 
The next morning he took ship for I 7 ranee (1690). 

The battle of the Boyne decided the fate of Ire- 
land. It was the turning-point in the bitter struggle 
between the Irish and their foreign masters; between 
the Irish Catholics and Protestants ; and between 
William of Orange and James the Second for the 
possession of the English throne. But, while it made 
the contest a hopeless one for the Irish, it did not 
bring the war to an immediate end. Under the 
sarsfieid's valiant and fervent Sarsfield, the Irish 
vaior. continued a desperate, though hopeless, 

resistance. After the battle of the Boyne, Drogheda 
and Dublin fell into William's hands; but the Irish 
retired to the strongholds of Connaught and Mini- 
ster, resolved to make an obstinate stand. Sarsfield, 
though now deserted by a large portion of his French 
allies, took up his position, with ten thousand Irish, 
at Limerick. William of Orange arrived before the 
town, and laid siege to it. Sarsfield, by a daring 
manoeuvre, intercepted and destroyed William's siege 
train. Then the English made a furious assault 
upon the town, and even entered at a breach they 
had made in its walls. But they were met with such 
sturdy bravery by its Irish defenders, that William, 
after a hot struggle of four clays, was compelled to 



THE TREATY OF LIMERICK. 203 

fall back defeated, and to give up taking Limerick 
until the following year. 

. The next stand of the Irish was made at Aughrim 
in the middle of the following summer (July, 1691). 
They were under the command of a French general, 
St. Ruth ; and seemed on the point of winning a com- 
plete victory when St. Ruth was killed. This fatality 
deprived the Irish of their confidence, and they were 
driven from the field. Limerick and Galway now 
alone held out. Galway yielded to the English after 
the defeat at Aughrim, and the Irish garrison 
marched away to join their comrades at Limerick. 
Limerick was speedily again invested by the English 
troops. The only hope remaining to the Irish was 
that a French fleet with re-enforcements, which had 
been promised, would arrive in time to raise the 
siege. While they were anxiously awaiting this 
hoped-for succor, the besiegers captured the island 
upon which a part of Limerick stands. The brave 
Sarsfield was so discouraged by this event, that he 
resolved to come to terms with the enemy. Ginkel, 
the English general, agreed to a truce of Negotiations 
three clays. This period was occupied by for P eace - 
negotiations for concluding a peace. Both sides were 
anxious that the war should come to a close. The 
Irish were nearly at the end of their resources, and 
had given up hope of the French fleet. King William 
was eager to withdraw his troops from Ireland, and 
to use them in his contest with France. The result 
of the negotiations was the treaty of Limerick. 



204 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

By this famous treaty, concessions were made on 
both sides. King William agreed that the Catholics 
should have freedom of worship, and that an Irish 
Parliament should be called together to secure them 
in that freedom. He granted pardon to those who 
had defended the cause of James, on condition that 
they should take an oath of allegiance to William and 
Mary. Catholics were relieved from taking the oath 
The treaty of supremacy ; that is, the oath acknowl- 
of Limenck. e jgi n g William and Mary as the supreme 
heads of the church. They were also allowed to keep 
the estates which they now held, to pursue such 
avocations as they pleased, and to carry arms. On 
the other hand, the Cromwellian colonists were con- 
firmed in the possession of the estates they held at 
the time of the treaty. As for the Irish army, it was 
agreed that the soldiers should be permitted to choose 
between enlisting in William's service, and going 
abroad and entering the armies of foreign powers. 

Scarcely was the ink dry on this treaty, when the 
French fleet, which the Irish had so anxiously 
awaited, showed its sails in the river Shannon. On 
board the fleet were three thousand soldiers and ten 
thousand muskets, with stores and ammunition. But 
Sarsfield was the soul of honor. He had signed the 
treaty, and it was too late to honorably retreat. He 
might now have turned round and, with the newly ar- 
rived Frenchmen, have defied Ginkel and the English. 
But he resisted the temptation, and stood manfully 
by his word. And now the Irish soldiers were called 



THE TREATY OF LIMERICK. 2C>5 

upon to make their choice between the English army 
and exile. They were drawn up outside ~ .. .. 

J i Destination 

Limerick; in all, twenty-three thousand, of Irish soi- 
A certain point was designated, and the 
battalions were marched towards it. Those who 
preferred William's service turned off as they reached 
the point ; those who wished to go abroad marched 
straight on. Almost three thousand turned aside 
to join the English army; the other twenty thou- 
sand, by marching forward, declared for exile. 

In no long time these self-banished Irish soldiers 
were put on board ships and carried to France. The 
greater part of them enlisted in the French army, 
and were followed into the French ranks, from time 
to time, by others of their compatriots. In many a 
hard-fought battle afterwards, often against the Eng- 
lish, the Irish legions fought under the French ban- 
ners with heroic bravery. A great deal of Ireland's 
best blood had thus left the island. The Irish who 
remained were soon destined to be rudely awakened 
from their dream of peace and liberty. The treaty 
The treaty of Limerick was treated by the broken - 
English as if it did not exist. Many of its articles 
were perfidiously violated. The agreement to allow 
the Catholics freedom of worship was broken, by the 
imposition on members of Parliament of an oath, 
which compelled them to deny some of the most vital 
articles of their creed. So it was that Catholics were 
excluded from the Irish Parliament. Then an attack 
was once more made upon the lands still held by the 



206 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Catholic Irish. More than a million Irish acres were 
confiscated, and were made over to the crown. A 
fourth part of this land, indeed, was restored by 
William to the Irish owners. A large portion of the 
rest he distributed to his friends and favorites. 

But the Irish owners were not to be allowed to 
hold in peace the small amounts of land which 
William returned to them. The English Parliament 
passed a law by which the restored estates were 
Fresh con- again confiscated, and were sold at auction ;' 
fiscations. ^g nione y paid for them being added to 
the English treasury. Thus the Catholic owners, at 
the beginning of the century, though they still com- 
prised nearly five-sixths of the population of Ireland, 
held less than one-seventh of the land. At this 
period, too, the condition of Ireland was, in some re- 
spects, as wretched and hopeless as it had ever been. 
In many parts of the country the planting of the 
land had been given up, and the people had resorted 
to the raising of cows, sheep, and pigs. Thus the 
population had become less industrious and thrifty. 
The importation of cattle from Ireland into England 
had then been forbidden, and this had reduced a large 
portion of the people to dire poverty. On the other 
hand, the linen and woollen industries had been en- 
couraged in Ireland, and had given prosperity to 
some of the larger towns. 

The wars had spread desolation far and wide 
through the country. Base coin had been forced 
by king James upon the Irish. The Tory outlaws 



THE TREATY OF LIMERICK. 2C>7 

continued their depreciations upon the English settle- 
ments. The cattle of the English were mutilated, 
their barns were burned, and their houses were plun- 
dered. Still, the Protestants in Ireland were now 
supported by the strong arm of the crown. The Irish 
The Irish Parliament was comprised solely ParIiam ent. 
of Protestants, and was in all things submissive to 
English power. All the officials in Ireland were 
Protestants. The Protestants, moreover, held six- 
sevenths of the Irish soil. But even these safe- 
guards of Protestant ascendancy did not satisfy the 
English masters of Ireland. It once more appeared 
to be the resolute purpose of the English to suppress 
altogether the Catholic religion, and to deprive the 
Catholic Irish entirely of the land. This purpose 
was revealed in the infamous "Penal Laws," which 
were now sternly imposed upon the unhappy race. 



208 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE PENAL LAWS. 

DURING the reigns of William the Third and 
Anne, a number of very cruel laws were passed, 
which were gross violations of the treaty of Lim- 
erick, and which bore with terrible severity upon the 
Irish, and especially upon the Irish Catholics. These 
are famous, or rather infamous, in history as the 
" Penal Laws." Their purpose was to reduce the 
Catholics of Ireland to perpetual helplessness and 
ignorance. It was intended by these means to put 
and hold the Irish under complete subjection. The 
penal laws must be briefly described, for many of 
the miseries which Ireland has suffered since may be 
traced back to them. They were passed, partly by 
the English Parliament, and partly by the Irish 
Parliament, the latter body being composed entirely 
of Protestants, and being completely devoted to the 
The oaths interests of the English crown. First, 
required. tne q^^ f allegiance to England, and of 
"abjuration," were required, not only of all the Irish 
bishops, but of every member of Parliament, every 
man who held a civil or military post, every officer 



THE PENAL LAWS. 20O, 

or instructor of the university of Dublin, every 
schoolmaster," every professor, and every lawyer. 
The oath of abjuration practically rejected the creed 
of the Catholic church, and hence could not be 
taken by any true Catholic. All Catholics, there- 
fore, were excluded from the avocations which have 
been named. 

Heavy penalties followed the breaking of these 
laws. A Catholic who dared to keep a school, even 
in a private house, was condemned to a heavy fine, 
or to be imprisoned for three months. No Catholic 
could send his child abroad to be educated. If he 
did, he was condemned to forfeit all his worldly 
goods. Any man, by informing the authorities of 
the breaking of this law, was entitled to receive half 
the property taken from the man who broke it. The 
accused man was not supposed to be innocent until 
he was found guilty, but was obliged to prove his 
innocence. All Catholic bishops, monks, The priests 
friars, and priests, except three thousand banished - 
priests who were "registered," and thus allowed to 
perform their sacred functions, were banished from 
Ireland. If any who were thus banished returned, 
they were condemned to be " hanged, drawn, and 
quartered." Whoever delivered up a bishop who 
had thus dared to come back to Ireland after being 
exiled, received a reward of fifty pounds. The re- 
ward for capturing and delivering up an unregistered 
priest was twenty pounds, and for a Catholic who 
was found teaching school, ten pounds. 



210 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF LRELAND. 

An important part of the infamous penal laws, 
indeed, was its system of rewards to those who be- 
trayed the persons at whom the law was aimed, and 
the inducements held out to those who abjured 
Catholicism and became Protestants. A Catholic 
priest who turned Protestant was entitled to receive 
a pension of twenty pounds a year. Every Catholic 
who owned land was compelled to leave it, in equal 
shares, to all his sons. But if the eldest son be- 
came a Protestant, the whole estate was given over 
to him. It was further provided that no Catholic 
could buy any land ; nor could any Catholic lease a 
farm for a longer period than thirty-one years. If a 
farm leased by a Catholic yielded a third more than 
the rent, any Protestant who discovered the fact could 
turn him out and take possession of his farm. No 
Catholic was allowed to own a horse of a higher 
value than five pounds ; if he did, any Protestant, by 
oppression offering him five pounds, might take the 
of catholics. h orse< No Catholic was permitted to 
keep more than two apprentices, except in the linen- 
trade. Whoever persuaded a Protestant to become 
a Catholic, was condemned to imprisonment for life. 
No Catholic could become the guardian of a child, 
or the executor of an estate. If a Catholic child 
turned Protestant, he could compel his father to give 
up to him one-third of his income. 

The penal laws bore heavily, not only upon the 
religion, but upon the social condition of the great 
mass of the Irish people. All Catholics were forbid- 



THE PENAL LAWS. 211 

den to keep arms and ammunition in their houses. 
The magistrates had the power to enter the homes 
of Catholics, at any hour of the day or night, to 
search for arms ; and, if any were discovered, the 
master of the house was condemned to pay a fine of 
thirty pounds for the first offence, and to imprison- 
ment for life for the second. This law, however, 
was not enforced against certain lords and officers 
who were included in the Limerick treaty. These 
were allowed to keep one gun, one pistol, and one 
sword each. Catholic gentlemen were forbidden to 
go more than five miles away from their houses with- 
out the written permission of the magis- _ 

r ° Protestant 

trates. Marriage between Catholics and and Catholic 
Protestants was sternly forbidden under marnages - 
heavy penalties. A Protestant woman who married 
a Catholic was condemned to forfeit her property to 
her next Protestant heir. A priest or clergyman who 
married a Protestant to a Catholic was condemned 
to a fine of twenty pounds, and imprisonment for a 
year. A Protestant man who married a Catholic 
woman was deprived of the right to sit in Parlia- 
ment, or to hold any office, unless his wife turned 
Protestant within twelve months. 

The Irish Catholics were excluded by the penal 
code from the practice of law. All lawyers in Ire- 
land were obliged to take the oath of abjuration, 
which repudiated the Catholic creed. Every lawyer 
was forced to educate his children as Protestants. 
A lawyer who disobeyed this requirement was con- 



212 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

demned to pay a fine of two hundred pounds. Any 
Exclusion person might call upon a lawyer to take 
from the bar. ^ Q oath ; and, if the lawyer refused, 
the person so calling upon him received half the 
fine the lawyer had to pay. No Catholic could serve 
on a grand jury, and no lawyer could hire a Catho- 
lic as a clerk. As time advanced, the penal laws 
were made more and more severe. Those of King 
William's reign were harsh and cruel, but those 
passed in the reign of Anne were yet more rigorous. 
It was now declared that no Catholic could receive 
an estate either by gift or inheritance. An estate 
which fell by descent to a Catholic was given over 
to the next Protestant heir. Catholics, moreover, 
were now for the first time excluded from the right 
to vote at elections. Five-sixths of the Irish people 
were thus deprived of a voice in choosing members 
of Parliament, who were now elected solely by the 
Protestant minority of one-sixth. 

So completely, indeed, did the tyrannical penal 
laws shut out the Irish Catholics from the privileges 
of citizenship, from religious freedom, from social 
well-being, and from the hope of prosperity, that an 
English judge declared that "the law did not suppose 
the existence of any such person as an Irish Roman 
Catholic ; nor could they even breathe without the 
connivance of the government." But the penal 
laws were not the only ones which were imposed 
with relentless cruelty upon the Irish. Not only 
were the English resolved to deprive the Irish of 



THE PENAL LAWS. 213 

their land, and to extinguish the religion to which a 
vast majority of the Irish ardently clung ; inshindus- 
but they were equally resolved to crush out Ties crushed, 
of Ireland all the industries by which they might live. 
England had become a great manufacturing and com- 
mercial country. She was determined that the Irish 
manufacturers and ship-owners should not enter into 
competition with those of England. A series of laws 
was therefore passed, which at first restricted Irish 
industry and commerce to narrow limits, and later 
suppressed them altogether. 

Ireland had already been forbidden to introduce 
her cattle, pigs, butter, and cheese into England ; 
and, as a result, a large number of Irish farms had 
ceased to produce these, and had turned their lands 
into pastures for the raising of sheep. It was not 
long before Ireland provided the best wool grown in 
the world. Many woollen-mills were established in 
Ulster, and the making of woollen goods soon prom- 
ised to bring prosperity to the northern province. 
But the woollen industry was also a large one in 
England. It would not do to let it thrive in Ireland, 
lest the Irish manufacture should injure the English. 
So the Irish were forbidden to send any i ris h ma nu- 
raw wool or woollen cloth to any foreign factures - 
land, or to any English colony. They could only send 
these articles to England. Thus a fatal blow was 
struck at the Irish industry ; and the mill-owners, 
sheep-raisers, and weavers were reduced to misery 
and want; This hardship fell with especial severity, 



214 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

not upon the native Irish Catholic, but the Protes- 
tant English of Ulster, who had always been loyal to 
the crown. 

Another terrible blow to Irish industry was the 
suppression of her ship-building trade. Irish oak 
had long been famous for its excellence as a material 
for building ships. Ireland had, too, many good 
^. u MJ harbors. But her ship-building rivalled 

Ship-build- ' & 

in* sup- that of the English. It was therefore de- 
press? clared that Ireland must use only English- 

built ships, and that she must not trade, in any way, 
with any country but England. All articles sent 
from or to Ireland must pass through England. 
Even the linen industry, for which Ireland was 
peculiarly adapted, since flax of the first quality 
could be grown there, was hampered and crippled 
by English selfishness and jealousy ; so that, in the 
course of time, the efforts of the Irish, deprived of 
the greater part of their soil, to cherish such indus- 
tries as she was capable of making successful, were 
paralyzed by the outrageous laws imposed upon them 
by their English masters. The result was that Ire- 
land became, more than ever, the abode of terrible 
want, of starvation, nakedness, vagabondage, and 
desperate lawlessness. Poverty, idleness, and de- 
spair reigned everywhere throughout the unhappy 
land. 



IRELAND PROSTRATE. 2 15 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

IRELAND PROSTRATE. 

THE picture of Ireland in the first half of the 
eighteenth century is a most gloomy one. Ire- 
land lay bound hand and foot beneath the rule of her 
English master. There remained, indeed, in that 
period, but one ray of hope for the down-trodden land. 
This was in the unsubdued national spirit The national 
of its people. The tyranny and misfor- spmt ' 
tunes of centuries had not crushed out the peculiar 
traits which marked the Irish character. Love of 
country and of home, a desperate clinging to the soil 
of their island, ardent devotion to their faith, — 
qualities which survived every oppression, — saved 
the Irish from national extinction, and baffled every 
stubborn effort of English power to subdue them. A 
race less strong in its national traits must have 
yielded to the weight of that power, as it was felt 
in Ireland in the reigns of Anne and the first two 
Georges. Almost all the land was in the hands of 
the English. The laws were made by the Protestant 
Parliament, which was elected solely by Protestant 
votes, and was the creature of the English crown ; 



2 1 6 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

and the laws thus made were executed solely by 
Protestant officials. The church of the small mi- 
nority was sustained by the forced contributions of 
the majority. The church of the majority was per- 
secuted, and, as far as possible, suppressed by the 
penal laws. 

One great evil in Ireland was the fact, that many 
of the large owners of the land perpetually absented 
themselves from their estates. They lived abroad, 
in England or on the continent, enjoying the luxuries 
which were supported by the rents paid by the poor 
Irish peasants. These men were called 

Absentees. 

"absentees; and "absenteeism' has long 
been the cause of a great many of the miseries which 
the Irish have suffered. The absentees had agents 
on their Irish estates, who ground down the tenants 
remorselessly. They compelled them to pay high 
rents, and, if they were unable to pay these rents, 
turned them out of their plots without mercy. 
Thus a large part of the money earned by Irish toil 
went out of the country, and was spent by the ab- 
sentees in foreign lands. This naturally made Ire- 
land ever poorer and poorer. After a while, the law 
which forbade the Irish to import cattle, pork, but- 
ter, and cheese, into England, was repealed. But 
this, as it proved, only added to the distress of the 
country. It took a far smaller number of men to 
raise cattle, than to till the soil. So it happened 
that thousands of the Irish were deprived of employ- 
ment, and were thrust out upon the roads to starve 
and die. 



IRELAND PROSTRATE. 2\J 

Driven by hunger and want to fierce despair, the 
Irish began to form themselves into secret bands, 
and to attack those who had robbed them of the 
chance to work, and doomed their children Desperation 
to the horrors of famine. These bands of the Irish - 
were known as "Whiteboys." They continued to 
commit desperate acts for many years. They began 
by mutilating, maiming, and killing the cattle belong- 
ing to the land-owners. This was because it was the 
revival of cattle-raising which had driven them from 
the soil. Sometimes the air, for miles around, would 
resound, in the dead of night, with the frenzied cries 
of the poor cows, which had been wounded by the 
Whiteboys, and were dying in agony. Then the 
Whiteboys committed crimes yet more savage. 
They hid behind hedges, or on the edges of the 
woods, and shot down landlords and herdsmen as 
they passed along the highway. They burned cow- 
sheds, sheep-pens, and even the dwellings of the 
well-to-do. All the while the peasants, who sympa- 
thized with the Whiteboys, sheltered them T h e white- 
in their huts, and aided them to escape boys - 
from their pursuers. Very severe laws were passed 
against the Whiteboys ; and when any of them were 
captured, they were promptly hung. But in spite of 
this, the Whiteboys long maintained a reign of terror, 
especially in southern Ireland. 

Other secret societies sprang up, from time to 
time, among the desperate and wretched Irish. In 
Ulster, a society called " Oakboys " (because they 



21 8 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

wore sprigs of oak on their coats), resisted the law 
which compelled everybody to work six days in the 
year, without pay, on repairing the public roads. 
The poor had been compelled to obey this law, while 
the rich and well-to-do had been released from the 
labor it imposed. The Oakboys refused to do any 
more work on the roads, until the prosperous farm- 
ers were also compelled to do their share. Another 
society was that of the " Heart-of-steel Boys," who 
stoutly refused to pay the money which some of the 
landlords demanded for renewing land leases which 
had expired. About the same period, — in the reign 
of George the First, — an event took place which 
for once united all Irishmen, Protestant and Catho- 
lic, rich and poor, in stubborn resistance to op- 
wood's pression. An Englishman, named William 

patent. Wood, received a patent from the crown 

to coin a large quantity of debased copper half- 
pence and farthings, for use in Ireland. These 
debased coins were to be forced upon the Irish, who 
were to be compelled to accept them as good money. 
The whole island rose against the imposition ; and 
so obstinate was this resistance that the king was 
obliged to withdraw Wood's patent (1722). 

This " copper war," as it was called, marks the 

beginning of a new era in Irish history. The most 

famous and able Irishman of the day was Jonathan 

Swift, clean of St. Patrick's. He is best 

Dean Swift. . . 

known as dean Swift. He was one of the 
most forcible and brilliant writers of his age. In 



IRELAND PROSTRATE. 2ig 

spite of his many faults, and his high position in the 
English church, dean Swift felt a great sympathy 
for his down-trodden, poverty-stricken, discontented 
country. Already he had vigorously denounced the 
laws by which England had tried to crush out Irish 
industry. He had boldly advised the Irish " to burn 
every thing English except the coal." He said to 
them, " By the laws of God, of nature, of nations, and 
of your own country, you are, and ought to be, as 
free a people as your brethren in England." Swift 
took an active part in the copper war. He gath- 
ered about him a group of Irishmen who were as 
hostile as himself to the tyrannical laws under which 
Ireland suffered. The triumph of the Irish over 
"Wood's half-pence," gained, as it was, not by rebel- 
lion, but by the union of all the people in a vigorous 
agitation, showed that they were more likely to se- 
cure the righting of their wrongs by agitation than 
by violence. Thus, under the inspiration of dean 
Swift, a new method of resisting English power was 
discovered ; and, for the first time, a succession of 
Irish agitators arose. Out of the copper war, there 
came into existence a new political party, The Patriot 
called the "Patriot party." The Patriot P art y- 
party has continued to exist, in some form, from 
that time to this ; and has never wholly ceased to 
agitate for the recovery of Irish rights. 

Meanwhile the cruel tyranny under which Ireland 
suffered was followed by two important results. The 
poverty to which many of the Irish were reduced 



220 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

caused a large emigration of Irishmen to North 
America. Those who thus resolved to leave their 
ancestral land for new homes across the ocean com- 
prised not only native Irish, but also a large num- 
ber of the Scottish Presbyterians who had settled 
in Ulster, and of descendants of the early English 
settlers in eastern Ireland. The emigration of the 
Irish to America has continued ever since. In the 
early part of the reign of George the Second, the Irish 
Irish emi- had begun to cross the Atlantic by thou- 
gration. sands. In one year (1729) more than five 

thousand Irish arrived at Philadelphia. In later 
years, the Irish swarmed across the ocean to find 
new homes in the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, 
New York, and New England. They thus became 
citizens of the colonies, which, in due time, rose in 
arms against English rule ; and among the patriots 
of the American revolution were to be found many 
of the sons of the Irish whom English tyranny had 
driven, forty years before, from their native land. 

The result of the laws which sought to suppress 
wool-growing, woollen manufactures, and other Irish 
industries, was, that smuggling began to be practised 
on a large scale along the Irish coast. The many har- 
bors and inlets of the western and south- 

Smuggling. 

ern Irish shores afforded excellent chances 
for this illegal traffic, and could not easily be watched 
and guarded by the English cruisers. The French 
needed wool, and Irish wool was to be had cheaper 
than any other. So great quantities of wool were 



IRELAND PROSTRATE. 221 

smuggled off to France ; and, in return, the smug- 
gling vessels brought back French wines, brandy, 
and other articles. Often priests, also, were secretly 
introduced by these vessels into Ireland. The smug- 
glers carried on their trade in safety ; for the whole 
population of the coast concealed, aided, and abetted 
them. The officers of the law could not find them; 
or if, perchance, they did, the smugglers were res- 
cued, or, if brought to trial, were acquitted by friendly 
juries. So it was that the Irish were taught, by the 
gross tyranny with which they were treated, to evade 
and defy the laws under which they lived. 



222 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRtLAND. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE. 

DURING the greater part of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, the great mass of the Irish suffered con- 
stantly, and at times desperately, under the operation 
of the cruel penal laws. The Irish Catholics were 
treated by their English masters as "enemies." 
They were shut out from the ownership of land. 
They were forbidden to enter upon avenues of manu- 
facture, trade, and commerce. They were forced to 
o ression support, by the payment of tithes, the 
of the Irish church of the small Protestant minority, 
and also to sustain their own priesthood. 
Their only chance of education lay in deserting their 
faith. The charter schools were established to make 
Protestants of poor Catholic children. The land- 
lords were protected by the law and its officers in 
ruling their tenants with an iron hand ; nor was 
there any bond of sympathy between the oppressed 
tenants and the oppressing landlords. The tenants 
believed that their only way to resist landlord tyranny 
was by secret conspiracy and violence. Even the 
Irish Protestants suffered so desperately under the 



CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE. 223 

laws which crushed out the industries of Ulster, 
that they were reduced to utter poverty ; to escape 
which, they resorted by thousands to emigration to 
foreign lands. It is said that, in the middle of the 
century, twelve thousand Protestants emigrated from 
Ireland every year. 

Famine recurred inevitably among a population so 
pent up and restricted in its opportunities to labor 
for existence. Towards the middle of the century 
(1739-40), the misery of the people in many parts of 
Ireland was extreme from want of food. The roads 
were covered with the dead and the dying. Malig- 
nant fevers laid whole villages waste. " Whole 
thousands in a barony," wrote a Protes- Famine and 
tant clergyman of the period, " have per- fever - 
ished ; some of hunger, and others of disorders 
occasioned by unnatural, unwholesome, and putrid 
diet." It is believed that more than three hundred 
thousand persons died in Ireland in two years from 
famine, and the diseases which followed in its train. 
One great evil, at this very period of utter wretched- 
ness among the poorer Irish, was that many of the. 
Irish landlords absented themselves entirely from 
the country. The money wrung in rents from the 
poverty-stricken tenants was spent, not in Ireland, 
where it might in some degree, at least, have relieved 
the prevalent distress, but in London, Paris, and 
other places abroad. The money thus drawn from 
Ireland to go into foreign pockets amounted some- 
times to over a million pounds a year. 



224 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

The poor Irish rapidly fell into the condition of 
living in wretched mud hovels, where, with scanty 
The poorer clothing and yet more scanty food, they 
classes. dwelt rather like beasts than human be- 

ings. At the same time, the good farming lands, in 
many parts of the country, were turned into pastures 
for the rearing of herds and flocks, because the ten- 
ants could not afford to enrich and till the soil. The 
result of this was to produce a crop of wanderers 
and beggars, who only worked fitfully, and during 
a large part of the year depended on alms for sub- 
sistence. Habits of idleness, of contempt of law, 
and of crime, naturally sprang from such a condition 
of things. Beggary easily develops into theft, and 
theft into robbery and murder. Irish beggars some- 
times maimed or blinded their own children, in order 
to make them objects of pity, and thus of charity, 
work- Workhouses were established by the gov- 

houses. ernment, to which persons found begging 

were committed, and wherein they were compelled 
to work ; but the inveterate aversion of even the 
poorest Irish to the workhouses rendered them of 
little use in limiting the evil of vagabondage. 

The habits of the middle and higher classes in 
Ireland during the eighteenth century were reckless 
and extravagant. They lorded it over the lower 
classes, often with pitiless severity ; and were them- 
selves, to a large degree, given over to dissipation 
and self-indulgence. This was especially the case 
with the smaller landlords and gentlemen. Drunk- 



CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE. 225 

cnness was habitual among large numbers of them. 
1 Hielling was practised as a settled custom. Horse- 
racing, cock-fighting, gambling, the sports of the 
field and forest, were more ardently pursued in Ire- 
land than in England. On the other i ris h 
hand, the lavish and generous hospitality hospitality, 
for which the Irish were famous from the earliest 
times, was still a marked feature of Irish society. 
The Irish gentleman, indeed, lived often in a plain 
and unsightly, and sometimes in a dilapidated, man- 
sion. He did not spend his money on architectural 
ornament, or even on domestic convenience. But 
within his unadorned walls the entertainment of his 
guests was profuse and prolonged. It is said that, 
in the dwelling of one Connaught nobleman, " the 
slaughtered ox was hung up whole, and the hungry 
servitor supplied himself with his dole of flesh sliced 
from off the carcass." This lord, "from an early 
dinner to the hour of rest, never left his chair; nor 
did the claret wine ever quit his table." 

The vice of absenteeism on the part of the 
Irish landlords, produced a large number of "middle- 
men," who acted as atrents to the land- .. 

° Absenteeism 

lords. These, with the smaller landlords, and middie- 
formed a class largely given over to dis- men ' 
solute and reckless habits. " They sublet their lands 
in rack rents," says Lecky ; "kept miserable packs 
of half-starved hounds, wandered from fair to fair, 
and from race to race, in laced coats, gambling, 
fighting, drinking, swearing, and sporting ; parading 



226 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

everywhere their contempt for honest labor, and 
giving a tone of recklessness to every society in 
which they moved." These were the men who 
ground down the tenants most pitilessly, who turned 
with deaf ear from the most heart-rending tales of 
destitution and starvation, and who gave to the 
classes below them the example of the worst vices 
with which Ireland was afflicted. Their brutal ex- 
ample taught the ignorant that " idleness and ex- 
travagance were noble things, and that parsimony, 
order, and industry were degrading to a gentleman." 
Happily, there is a brighter side to the picture of 
Irish life in the eighteenth century. Side by side 
with the abject wretchedness and slavery of the 
many, with the headlong dissipation of the middle 
class, there existed much intellectual activity and an 
energetic public spirit. In the early part of the cen- 
tury, many Irishmen became eminent in literature. 
The greatest name among these was that of Jonathan 
Swift. Bishop Berkeley was another whose works 
are still honored and remembered. Archbishop King, 
provost Browne, Parnell the poet, Skelton, Hutche- 
son, Brooke, were among the Irish writers of dis- 
tinction. Later in the century a brilliant galaxy of 
Irish authors appeared in Lawrence Sterne, 

Irish writers. 

Oliver Goldsmith, Edmund Burke, and 
Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Societies devoted to 
philosophy, literature, and art, nourished in Ireland. 
The most notable of these were the Dublin Philo- 
sophical Society, founded in the latter part of the 



CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE. 227 

preceding century ; the Physico-Historical Society ; 
and, most important of all, the Dublin Society 
(1731). The object of the Dublin Society was "to 
improve husbandry, manufactures, and other useful 
arts." Lord Chesterfield said of it, that " it did more 
good to Ireland, with regard to arts and industry, 
than all the laws that could have been formed." 

In the last half of the century, the Dublin Society 
did a good work in devoting itself to fostering the 
ornamental arts in Ireland. The country The Dublin 
had already produced several portrait Societ y- 
painters of merit, and a school of engraving was 
established in Dublin. An academy of art was 
founded, and exhibitions of paintings were annually 
held at the capital. Some improvements in archi- 
tectural adornment were carried to a higher perfec- 
tion in Ireland than in any other country. Later in 
the century, an Irishman, James Barry, rose to the 
highest grade of eminence as a historical painter. 
Intellectual discussion was active and earnest among 
the scholarly circles of Ireland for many years. Men 
of learning engaged in controversies on theology, 
political economy, political reform, industrial theories, 
and social conditions, by means, principally, of pam- 
phlets. Prominent among these were Berkeley, Mad- 
den, Prior, Lord Molesworth, Edward Synge, and 
archbishop Boulter. The most earnest of these dis- 
cussions were those which related to the position of 
the two churches in Ireland. 

As the century wore on, the bitterness of feeling 



228 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

between the Catholics and the Protestants in Ireland 
a more toi- gradually declined. The penal laws were 
erant era. j ess f|- en rigidly enforced. The rites of 
the Catholic church were almost openly performed, 
in spite of the laws, throughout Ireland. The divis- 
ions between class and class became less broad and 
deep. Even the government, aided as it was by 
Irish Parliaments which were exclusively Protestant, 
became less stringent ; and many useful measures 
were placed upon the statute-book. The people 
were less severely taxed. It was observed that less 
corruption and less extravagance took place at the 
elections, and that the Irish government was car- 
ried on with greater economy and industry. The 
morals of the Irish people, too, had, in the course of 
years, noticeably improved. Domestic virtues ; re- 
spect for women, charity, and generosity ; fidelity to 
family affection and to friendship ; ardent gratitude 
and devotion to benefactors, — were traits which 
marked the lives even of the Irish poor to a greater 
degree, perhaps, than those of any other European 
race. 

The Irish of the eighteenth century were as fond 
of music, dancing, the boisterous games of the fair 
and the festival, as ever their ancestors had been. 
The ancient and revered line of the bards, indeed, 
did not become extinct until the death of the famous 
Irish amuse- Carolan (1737). While the traditional 
ments. recreations of the people continued to 

flourish, many of the vicious amusements of the 



CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE. 229 

early and middle parts of the century became less 
prevalent towards its close. Drunkenness was less 
universal, and duelling was ceasing to be a regular 
custom among the choleric squires. No people ever 
clung more tenaciously to their old homes, traditions, 
customs, religious beliefs, and affections ; and in spite 
of oppressions and miseries which had endured for 
centuries, the Irish remained in the eighteenth cen- 
tury, what, indeed, they are in the nineteenth, a 
singularly light-hearted, cheerful, imaginative race. 
Tyranny had failed to quench not only their national 
spirit, but the joyousness and gayety of their natures. 
Some of the large towns of Ireland vied, in the 
eighteenth century, in population and varied activi- 
ties, with the towns of England. Dublin Large Irish 
was the second town in Great Britain and J owns - 
Ireland, in the number of its inhabitants. At one 
period its population was somewhat over a hundred 
thousand (1750). It is said that its St. Stephen's 
Green was the > largest public square in Europe. Dub- 
lin had broad quays, several fine public buildings, a 
flourishing university, and some elegant residences. 
The castle in which the lord-lieutenant held his court 
was often the scene of brilliant levees and banquets. 
The theatres, public gardens, and music-halls were 
filled with pleasure-loving crowds. Handel's " Mes- 
siah " was first produced in Dublin ; and Garrick 
there played " Hamlet " for the first time. Among 
the larger Irish towns, Cork had a population of 
sixty thousand, and Limerick over twenty thousand. 



23O YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

The county towns next in importance were Water- 
ford, Kilkenny, and Galvvay. Upon all of these 
towns, indeed, rested the blight of the penal laws, 
and of those laws which from time to time had im- 
posed restrictions on Irish trade and commerce. 
Yet, in the eighteenth century, each of them pre- 
sented some features of thrift, which proved that the 
business capacity of Irishmen, under greater freedom, 
would have created wealth and prosperity. 



THE IRISH PATRIOTS. 23! 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE IRISH PATRIOTS. 

THE political history of Ireland during the eight- 
eenth century relates largely to the efforts 
of Irish patriots to obtain for their country some 
degree of political freedom. The Irish Parliament, 
composed as it was entirely of Protestants, p ro testant 
and chosen by Protestant voters only, Ascendancy, 
still remained entirely subject to English power. 
Poyning's Act, which had been passed centuries 
before, and by which every Irish measure had to be 
submitted to the English privy council, before it 
could even be considered in the Irish Parliament, 
still remained in force. To it was added another 
law, in the early part of the reign of George the 
First, by which it was declared that the English Par- 
liament had power to make laws for the Irish people 
(1720). The Irish patriots wished to get rid of these 
restrictions ; to obtain for the Irish Parliament the 
real power to make laws for Ireland without English 
interference; and to so reform the Irish Parliament 
itself, that it would better represent the Irish 
people. 



232 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Among the many grievances under which the Irish 
suffered, was the fact that large sums were taken 
from the Irish revenues, and given as pensions to the 
favorites, illegitimate children, and mis- 
tresses of the English kings. Ireland was 
poverty-stricken. Her trade and manufactures had, 
to a large extent, been crushed out by English self- 
ishness : her woollen industry had been similarly 
crippled. Yet the taxes wrung from Irish toil were 
thus given to worthless people, who enjoyed the in- 
comes thus derived in idle luxury. At one period 
(1733) the amount of pensions drawn from the Irish 
revenues amounted to seventy thousand pounds a 
year. Another abuse was the "charter schools," 
The charter which were established throughout the 
schools. country for the purpose of educating poor 

Catholic children to become Protestants. These 
schools were at first free : they then became board- 
ing-schools, in which the poor children were starved 
and neglected, and which became merely a source of 
income to their managers. 

The Irish patriots were, for the most part, Protes- 
tants, who devoted themselves to the removal of the 
unjust laws by which Ireland was burdened. They 
formed a political party which acted in Parliament 
in opposition to the government. The founders of 
this party were dean Swift and a group of Irishmen 
who acted with him. The chief feature of their ac- 
tion, as has been said, was that, instead of trying to 
obtain for Ireland her rights by conspiracy and re- 



THE IRISH PATRIOTS. 233 

bellion, they aimed to achieve that end by discussion 
and agitation in the public press, and within the 
walls of Parliament. They hoped to win their cause 
by peaceable and orderly methods. They were at 
first a small party, but they grew formidable in the 
flight of years. Some of the patriots proved corrupt, 
and were bribed by the English government with 
pensions and offices, to desert the cause of their 
country and turn against it. But in spite of such 
desertions, the party thrived and, in the end, pre- 
vailed. One of the earliest and most ac- The leading 
tive of the patriots was Charles Lucas, a P atriots - 
chemist in Dublin, who established the " Freeman's 
Journal," in which he vigorously advocated the right 
of the Irish to rule themselves. Lucas became a 
member of Parliament, and was long the leader of 
the little group of twenty-eight patriots who were 
battling, in the Irish House of Commons, for their 
country's liberties. 

But in time there arose two leaders of the patriot 
part\ r who were far above all the others in eloquence, 
energy, and fervor, and whose genius added great 
strength to the cause they had at heart. These were 
Henry Flood and Henry Grattan. Flood Flood and 
came of a good Protestant family, was well Grattan - 
educated, and was endowed to a rare degree with the 
gift of oratory. He was brilliant and ambitions, and 
for some years led the patriots with a spirit and 
ardor which made him the idol of the people, lie 
entered the Irish Parliament, where he attacked the 



234 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

tyrannical lord-justice, archbishop Stone, with fear- 
less vigor, and persuaded the House to declare that 
it alone had the right to decide upon measures for 
taxing the people and spending the revenue. Side 
by side with Lucas, Burgh, Daly, and other patriots, 
Flood struggled, in the new Irish Parliament (which 
was chosen upon the accession of George the Third, 
1760), to correct some of the abuses which existed 
in Ireland. The Irish Parliament had before had an 
indefinite life, and had only been called together once 
in two years. It had not been dissolved so long as 
its conduct suited the English king. But now, by 
the efforts of the patriots, a law was passed that the 
existence of an Irish Parliament should be limited to 
eight years. The patriots also succeeded in redu- 
cing the amount of the odious pension-list, and in 
doing away with some of the penal laws. 

Flood's ambition, however, was not satisfied with 
leading the patriots. In an evil hour for his own 
fame, he accepted the office of vice-treasurer from 
Flood ac- the government. It is said that his rea- 
cepts office. gon f or c ] ing this was that he might the 
more effectively aid the patriot cause. But the re- 
sult of his acceptance of the office was, that he lost 
all influence with his former friends, and was looked 
upon by them as a traitor to Ireland. His place as 
chief of the patriots, however, was soon filled by a 
greater man than he. Of all Irishmen of the eigh- 
teenth century, the figure of Henry Grattan stands 
foremost and unapproached. Eloquent, pure, reso- 



THE IRISH PATRIOTS. 235 

lute, full of the most ardent and unflinching patriot- 
ism, the champion both of the Protestant patriots 
and of his oppressed Catholic fellow-countrymen ; 
endowed, moreover, with brilliant talents as a legis- 
lator, debater, and statesman, Henry Grattan was, 
above all men, fitted to lead in the hard struggle for 
the liberation of Ireland. Grattan entered the Irish 
House of Commons, for the first time, at the early 
age of twenty-five (1775). It was a critical moment 
alike in Irish, English, and American history. The 
American revolution was on the point of breaking 
out ; and it was the events which speedily grew out 
of the American revolution which gave Ireland, under 
Grattan's leadership, her long-awaited chance to 
secure parliamentary independence. 

Flood and Grattan had been friends, and had 
worked together in the patriot cause. But when 
Flood accepted an office, an open and bitter quarrel 
took place between them, and Grattan took Flood's 
place at the head of the patriot party. Grattan 
When the American revolution broke out, leads the 
the English government demanded that a patnot£ 
force of four thousand troops should be raised in Ire- 
land, and sent out to fight the American colonists. 
Grattan, who sympathized deeply with the Ameri- 
cans, opposed this with all the resources of his elo- 
quence ; but the troops were raised and sent in spite 
of his opposition. It was not long, however, before 
events occurred which enabled Grattan to resist 
English power with effect. The defeat of Burgoyne 



236 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

at Saratoga (1777), and the alliance of France with 
the American colonies, completely changed the face 
of affairs. The immediate result of these CYents 
was to produce a great deal of distress in both Ireland 
and England. Thousands of laborers were deprived 
of work, and the taxes needed to carry on the war lay 
heavily upon the people. 

Then there arose a new danger. The coasts and 
ports of Ireland were threatened by French cruisers, 
The Irish an( ^ ky the depredations of the redoubtable 
coast threat- American buccaneer, John Paul Jones. 
The defences of the coast and ports were 
miserably weak. Belfast was protected by a little 
band of sixty soldiers. The peril of invasion and 
rapine inspired the Irish to raise a large force cf 
"Volunteers," to protect the island from its assail- 
ants. Both Protestants and Catholics, without dis- 
tinction of race or faith, swarmed into the ranks of 
this organization. The Orangeman of Ulster found 
himself side by side with the peasant of Connaught. 
In every town and county, bodies of volunteers were 
quickly raised, drilled, and armed. Among the ac- 
tive organizers of the body were not only the leading 
patriots, like Grattan and Burgh, but also nobles, like 
the duke of Leinster, the earl of Charlemont, and the 
earl of Bristol. In no long time the Irish Volunteers 
amounted to sixty thousand well-armed men, com- 
manded by the patriotic earl of Charlemont. They 
were provided with two hundred cannon, and soon 
formed a well-disciplined army. In the face of such 



THE IRISH PATRIOTS. 237 

a force as this, the peril from French cruisers and 
American privateers vanished. But now Grattan 
had, in the Volunteers, a powerful instrument for 
extorting concessions from the English crown. The 
Volunteers were one and all fervent patri- The voiun- 
ots. They were an armed and organized teers - 
mass of men, who were resolved to obtain their 
country's rights. Thus supported, Grattan entered 
promptly upon the execution of his designs. He first 
demanded that Ireland should have the right to trade 
in perfect freedom with the colonies. The govern- 
ment, overawed by the Volunteers, yielded to the 
demand. Then Grattan took a bolder and far more 
important step. He proposed in the Irish House of 
Commons, that " the king, lords, and commons were 
the only powers competent to pass laws for Ireland." 
This meant that thenceforth the English Parliament 
should have no right to make any laws for Ireland, 
or in any way change the laws passed by the Irish 
Parliament. It was, in fact, a proposal to repeal the 
#ict of George the First, which had made the English 
Parliament supreme in the making of Irish laws. 

The formidable organized power of the Volunteers 
enabled Grattan, within a year, to achieve his great 
triumph, and to obtain a free and indepen- Grattan ob _ 
dent Parliament for the Irish. England tains a free 
was still involved in the American war, 
which was crippling her resources, and depriving her 
of the military strength which would be necessary to 
put down the Volunteers, and so recover her grasp 



238 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

upon Ireland. Grattan's bill was passed, and Eng- 
land was compelled to give full powers to the Irish 
Parliament (1782). But great as this triumph was, 
it was not yet complete. The Irish Parliament still 
consisted of Protestants only, and was elected by 
Protestants only. The Irish Catholics, although they 
comprised nearly five-sixths of the population, could 
neither sit as members nor vote for members. Yet 
it was a very important step to get rid of the English 
power of legislating for Ireland, and of dictating what 
laws the Irish Parliament should pass. 



THE FREE PARLIAMENT. 239 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE FREE PARLIAMENT. 

N Irish Parliament, with full power to make 
laws for Ireland, and freed at last from English 
control, now met in Dublin (1783). Its first impor- 
tant act was to consider a measure of parliamen- 
tary reform. The Irish House of Com- _. , . . 

J The Irish 

mons was not only defective in that it House of 
consisted of and was elected solely by omm ns ' 
Protestants. Of its three hundred members, at least 
one hundred were chosen by the influence or the 
direct orders of the great landlords. It was thus, to a 
large degree, subject to the will of the aristocracy. As 
soon, therefore, as the new and free Parliament had 
assembled, some of its leading spirits proposed that 
these defects in the House should be remedied, that 
the Catholics should be admitted to the suffrage, and 
that the influence of the landlords in the selection 
of members should be curtailed. Grattan was still 
the most conspicuous figure in the House. His 
genius and eloquence were still unrivalled. Flood 
was also a member ; and, in spite of his holding an 
office under the crown, was, curiously enough, more 



24O YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

earnest in his zeal for reform than his great 
rival. Among the other patriots, the earl of 
Charlemont and the earl of Bristol (the latter of 
whom was also the Protestant bishop of Derry) 
were eminent. 

Each of these four — Grattan, Flood, Charlemont, 
and Bristol — was the leader of a party by itself. 
Four Irish Grattan wished not only to reform the 
Parties. House of Commons, and admit the Catho- 

lics to the right to vote, but he desired to show grati- 
tude to and confidence in the good faith of England, 
by disbanding the Volunteers. Flood was an advo- 
cate of reform, but opposed Catholic suffrage, and 
was eager that the Volunte'ers should continue in ex- 
istence. Charlemont favored the disbandment, but 
was hostile to Catholic suffrage. Bristol was in favor 
of keeping the Volunteers, and granting the vote to 
the Catholics. After a bitter contest, the House of 
Commons refused to pass the reform bill, although it 
was loudly demanded by the people. The Volunteers 
were soon after disbanded and dispersed. But they 
gave place to another patriotic society, which was 
destined to play a notable part in the following years. 
The united This was the society of the " United Irish- 
irishmen, men." It was composed of men from all 
parts of Ireland, Protestant and Catholic. Its ob- 
jects were to secure a complete reform of the House 
of Commons, to unite Irishmen of all creeds and 
political beliefs in harmony and patriotic action, to 
get rid of the feuds and dissensions which divided 



THE FREE PARLIAMENT. 24I 

Irishmen, and to make more secure and ample the 
liberties which Ireland had already won. 

At the head of the United Irishmen were two 
Protestants, Hamilton Rowan and James Tandy. 
Its leading spirit was Wolfe Tone, a cour- 

a L . Wolfe Tone. 

ageous and enthusiastic young lawyer. 
Grattan held aloof from the movement ; but it ex- 
tended very rapidly throughout Ireland, and soon 
became, as the . Volunteers had been, a formidable 
force. At first the United Irishmen professed loyal- 
ty to the English crown. They declared that they 
only intended to carry on a peaceful agitation to 
obtain further reforms. But in course of time, 
events took place which led the society to inspire a 
revolt, with a view to achieving the complete inde- 
pendence of Ireland. Daring the first few years 
after the Irish Parliament became free, Ireland ap- 
peared to be entering upon a career of unheard-of 
prosperity. Trade revived, and the cities Revival of 
and chief towns assumed the aspect of trade - 
active business and thrift. The state of things in 
the country districts did not, however, greatly im- 
prove ; and so great did the disturbances become, 
that the Irish Parliament was forced to pass a severe 
"coercion" law, for the purpose of maintaining order. 
Several serious contentions, moreover, arose be- 
tween England and Ireland. There were disputes as 
to the conditions of Irish trade ; and when George 
the Third became insane, and it was proposed to 
make his eldest son, the prince of Wales, regent 



242 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

of the kingdom, the Irish took sides with the prince, 
and against Pitt, who was then prime minister. 
This aroused Pitt's hostility, and was one of the 
causes which led him later to destroy the Irish Parlia- 
ment altogether. But the Irish Parliament, during 
its brief existence, adopted some enlightened and 
tolerant measures. Grattan succeeded in carrying a 
Catholic kill to allow Catholics to practise as law- 

suffrage yers ; and a little later he secured to 
Catholics the right to vote for members 
of Parliament (1793). An agitation now sprang up 
to obtain for the Catholics the right also to sit in 
Parliament, and to hold civil and military offices. 
Even Pitt, who had never been friendly to Ireland, 
seemed inclined to yield to this demand. He sent 
earl Fitzwilliam, an enlightened and liberal states- 
man, to Dublin as lord-lieutenant : and the Irish 
were encouraged to believe that full political rights 
would at last be allowed to the Catholics. 

Their hopes were frustrated by the obstinacy of 
George the Third. He utterly refused to consent 
that the Irish Catholics should have the rights they 
demanded. This compelled Pitt to once more change 
his policy. He recalled the liberal Fitzwilliam, and 
appointed Clare, an avowed enemy of the Irish re- 
form, in his place. Then, by bribery and corrup- 
tion, Pitt induced the Irish Parliament to reject the 
bill which removed the restrictions upon the Catho- 
lics. The patriotic Grattan did not yet wholly de- 
spair. Once more be brought a reform bill into the 



THE FREE PARLIAMENT. 243 

Irish House of Commons, and was most eloquently 
aided by the young Irish orator, John Phil- Defeat of 
pott Curran (1797). But this last heroic reform - 
attempt to save Ireland from anarchy or renewed 
slavery was not successful. The Irish Parliament 
was corrupt, and had now become the mere tool of 
Pitt and the English influence. The failure to re- 
form it, and make it representative of the whole 
people, had brought about this wretched condition 
of affairs. Grattan in despair retired from taking 
further part in public life, and left Ireland to the 
leadership of more fiery spirits. 

The final defeat of all reform, the failure of the 
Catholics to obtain their political rights, the now 
complete subserviency of the Irish Parliament to the 
will of Pitt, caused the society of United Irishmen 
to make an entire change of attitude, preparations 
Their gatherings became secret. Their for revolt - 
adherents were busily armed and drilled in out-of-the- 
way places. They were joined by many men of 
ability, rank, and influence, who had hitherto held 
aloof from it. Prominent among these new recruits 
were Thomas Addis Emmet, a brilliant lawyer; lord 
Edward Fitzgerald, a brother of the then duke of Lein- 
ster ; and Arthur O'Connor, a member of the Irish 
House of Commons. The French revolution had 
inspired the United Irishmen with a longing and a 
desire to throw off the British yoke, as the French 
had got rid of their kings and nobles, f r ranee, more- 
over, was now at war with England ; and the leaders 



244 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

of the impending Irish revolt believed that French 
arms and money would come to their aid when the 
signal for open rebellion was given. 

Wolfe Tone was, from the first, the most active 
and energetic of the leaders of the United Irishmen. 
His operations, and those of the society, were made 
known to Pitt by the spies whom he had sent to Ire- 
land ; and Tone was forced to fly. He crossed the 
Atlantic to the United States. Bat he had by no 
means given up the cause of his country. He soon 
returned over the ocean to France, and there pleaded 
eloquently for assistance on behalf of the Irish. 
French aid Meanwhile the more disaffected parts of 
secured. Ireland were put under martial law ; the 

militiamen, under English command, were* quartered 
in the houses of the Catholics, and committed many 
robberies and gross cruelties ; and the Irish were 
once more becoming desperate to revenge themselves 
upon their foreign masters. The French, yielding 
to Tone's entreaties, supplied him with a fleet, ten 
thousand soldiers, and a large quantity of stores, 
arms, and ammunition. But now the elements inter- 
vened to dash the hopes of the Irish patriots. As 
the friendly French ships approached the Irish coast, 
a great wind-storm arose. The fleet was scattered, 
and for weeks floated helplessly about, unable to 
effect a landing ; and at last, in despair, returned to 
France. But the bold spirit of Wolfe Tone was still 
undespairing. He was resolved to struggle for Irish 
liberty to the last. 



THE INSURRECTION OF NINETY-EIGHT. 245 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE INSURRECTION OF NINETY-EIGHT. 

THE failure of the French expedition did not put 
an end to the revolt of the United Irishmen. 
Wolfe Tone next resorted to Holland, which country, 
like France, was then hostile to England. A large 
force was collected, and a Dutch squadron was made 
ready to sail for Ireland. But now, again, a series 
of high gales swept over the German Ocean and the 
English Channel, and the ships lay helpless in their 
harbor. When at last they sallied forth, they were 
easily taken by the English admiral Duncan. The 
failure of the attempts to procure foreign help threw 
the United Irishmen upon their own resources. 
They might have become disheartened, had it not 
been that the cruelties and severities of the English 
officials and soldiers in Ireland kept the spirit of 
resistance aflame. The whole island was honey- 
combed with English spies, and with base i r i S h trai- 
Irishmen, who, for offices and money, were tors- 
eager to betray their patriot fellow-countrymen. 
There were traitors in the very meetings of the 
United Irishmen, who hastened away from those 



246 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

meetings to reveal what had been clone, to the Eng- 
lish authorities in Dublin castle. 

Many of the leading patriots were seized and 
thrown into prison. They were tried before packed 
juries, who were sometimes plied with drink, in order 
that they might bring in verdicts against the accused. 
Martial law was proclaimed in the counties where 
the insurgents were most numerous and formidable. 
The counties of Kildare and Wexford were sternly 
subjected to this law. Irishmen were condemned to 
death upon the evidence of paid spies and traitors, 
and upon the conviction of corrupted juries. The 
, English troops in Ireland were guilty of 

Atrocities of & l ° J 

English barbarous atrocities. When the humane 

troops. gj r Rgjpk Abercrombie took command of 

the army in Ireland, he wrote back to England that 
" houses have been burned, men murdered, others 
half hanged. A young lady has been carried off by 
a detachment of dragoons ; and, in the room where she 
was, an officer was shot through the thigh. These 
are but a few of the enormities which have disgraced 
us of late; were the whole to be collected, what a pic- 
ture it would present ! Within these twelve months, 
every crime, every cruelty, that could be committed 
by Cossacks or Calmucks has been committed here." 
Abercrombie tried to put a stop to the outrages 
committed by the soldiers, and to restore discipline 
and obedience to the English troops. But the vio- 
lent enemies of Ireland, aided by earl Camden, the 
lord-lieutenant, were too strong for him ; and he was 



THE INSURRECTION OF NINETY-EIGHT. 247 

forced to give over his command to General Lake. 
This general was stern and severe; and winked at, if 
he. did not sanction, the cruelties which his soldiers 
committed upon the Irish. The poor peasants, many 
of whom were wholly guiltless of rebellion, were 
flogged and shot, or their wretched huts were burned 
over their heads. Men were subjected to barbarous 
tortures, to compel them to betray the wholesale 
designs and hiding-places of the patriots. violence - 
If any man ventured to wear a sprig of green, the 
Irish color, he was subjected to persecution and vio- 
lence : even women, for this act, were insulted and 
infamously treated. It was the custom of the United 
Irishmen to have their hair cropped close to their 
heads. If any man, therefore, was found with his hair 
cut short, the brutal British soldiers would cover his 
head with pitch, and put a paper cap thereon, which 
could not be removed without tearing the scalp. 

All these things incensed the Irish, and drove 
them by thousands into the ranks of the United 
Irishmen. The chiefs of the society resolved upon 
a general rising throughout the country. But the 
government spies were not idle. A meeting of the 
Irish leaders in Dublin was betrayed by an informer, 
and surprised by a posse of soldiers from the castle ; 
and fourteen of them were captured. Soon after, 
Thomas Addis Emmet, Sampson, and c ture of 
McNevin were taken. Lord Edward Emmet and 
Fitzgerald was still at large, and was all 
the more resolved, after the arrest of his colleagues, 



248 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

to kindle an insurrection. But he, too, was soon 
betrayed. The lord-lieutenant was informed that 
Fitzgerald was concealed in the house of a certain 
feather-merchant. A party of soldiers was at once 
sent to seize him. When they entered his room, the 
brave patriot sprang upon them with a long dagger. 
He was desperately wounded, however, and was 
dragged away to prison, where he died of his wounds 
in a few days. 

The revolt was deprived of its gallant and able 
leaders ; yet, in many places, the rising took place as 
had been planned. The scattered companies of sol- 
diers and militia-men, spread through the 

Fierce strug- ' 1 ° 

gies of the country as garrisons, were assailed by the 
insurgents. fj ercC) undisciplined United Irishmen. In 
some places the companies were overcome, and their 
posts occupied by the insurgents. Then followed 
scenes of savage carnage and destruction, visited by 
the victors upon the soldiers, and upon the partisans 
of England, in the districts round about. In other 
places the English troops held their own, and the 
insurgents were driven off with savage slaughter. 
Martial law was proclaimed in Dublin ; and this 
saved the capital from a rising of the United Irish- 
men within its limits. The insurrection was the 
most obstinate and the most prolonged in the county 
of Wexford. It held out there after Ulster and 
Meath had been reduced to complete subjection by 
the English troops. At first the Wexford rebels 
won some notable victories. They defeated the mili- 




Capture of Fitzgerald. — Page 248. 



THE INSURRECTION OF NINETY-EIGHT. 249 

tia at Oulart, took Ferns, where they burned the Pro- 
testant bishop's palace ; and, gathering The Irish at 
strength as they advanced, at last entered Wexford - 
the town of Wexford itself. 

In no long time the entire country, with the ex- 
ception of the towns of Duncannon and New Ross, 
was in the rebels' hands. They desperately attacked 
New Ross, but without success. Some of the wild- 
est of the rebel spirits wreaked their vengeance upon 
a party of Protestant men and women who were col- 
lected for safety in a house and barn in the neighbor- 
hood. Many of these were shot, or killed with pikes ; 
the rest were burned in the barn where they were 
huddled together. This atrocious act was done with- 
out the knowledge of Harvey, the commander of the 
insurgents ; who, when he heard of it, denounced it 
with warm indignation. He was soon after suc- 
ceeded in the command by a warlike priest, Farther 
Philip Roche. Some minor successes emboldened 
the insurgents to advance northward. Thirty thou- 
sand of these marched on Arklow, which Battle of 
was held by a strong English garrison. Arklow - 
At the head of these insurgents was Father Michael 
Murphy. They attacked the defences of the town 
with furious valor. 

At one time the rebels seemed on the point of 
victory ; but, in the midst of the fray, Murphy fell, 
fatally wounded. His men, disheartened by this 
event, slowly and sadly withdrew, and the English 
remained masters of the town. The battle of Ark- 



250 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

low was the turning-point of the insurrection. The 
Irish now retired to two camps, — one on the hill of 
Lacken, and the other on Vinegar hill, near Ennis- 
corthy. There they remained inactive, sending for- 
aging parties through the neighboring districts to 
collect provisions, and awaiting a favorable moment 
for resuming the offensive. But that moment never 
came. Heavy re-enforcements soon arrived from 
England, and the English generals resolved to at 
once advance upon the rebels in their camps. At 
the head of the English was the relentless General 
Lake. The Irish, under Roche, when they heard of 
the advance of the English, retreated from Lacken 
hill, and succeeded in reaching Wexford in safety. 
The other Irish stronghold near Vinegar hill re- 
mained. The English troops closed in upon it. They 
Defeat at drove the Irish, who fought with desper- 
vinegar ate but useless courage, out of Enniscor- 

Hill 

thy up the hill. A terrible battle ensued. 
At last the Irish were forced to evacuate the hill, 
and to seek refuge, like their comrades of the Lacken 
camp, in Wexford (June 21, 1798). 

Already the position of the Irish at Wexford had 
been attacked ; and, when the news of the defeat at 
Vinegar hill arrived, the Irish abandoned the town. 
The various Irish forces now retired into the inte- 
rior, and were broken up into marauding bands. The 
vengeance of the English upon the defeated Irish 
was swift and terrible. The soldiers and militia vied 
with each other in the excess of their atrocities. A 



THE INSURRECTION OF NINETY-EIGHT. 25 1 

hospital containing a number of wounded Irish was 
burned with its inmates. Parties of militiamen rode 
about the country shooting all, even women, T 

J o ' ' Lawlessness 

whom they chanced to meet. The houses of the 
were robbed of all articles of value. Court- ng ls 
martials sat in the towns, and those whom they con- 
demned were hurried in batches to execution. Many 
of the leaders of the revolt were hung in Dublin. 
Among those who thus suffered were Roche, Kelly, 
Murphy, and Harvey. Others were mercilessly 
flogged with the cat-o'-nine-tails. Hundreds of per- 
fectly innocent persons were subjected to the brutal 
violence of the triumphant English. 



252 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE UNION OF THE PARLIAMENTS. 

^T^HE last 'event of the insurrection was the ar- 
X rival of a small French fleet off the Irish coast 
(October, 1798). On board one of the ships was the 
unconquerable Wolfe Tone, whose spirit had not 
been subdued even by the crushing defeats of Vine- 
gar Hill and Wexford. The French fleet was en- 
countered by some English men-of-war, and an 
obstinate sea-fight ensued. The " Hoche," the ship 
which carried Tone, coped gallantly with four English 
frigates at once. The result of the battle, however, 
was the utter defeat of the invading fleet. Tone 
Fate of was taken prisoner, and attempted to pass 

woife Tone, himself off as a French officer. But he 
was soon recognized, and carried captive to Dublin. 
He was condemned to be hung. But his proud soul 
revolted from a death so disgraceful, and he cut his 
throat in his cell. The last spark of the insurrection 
went out with Tone's heroic life. The United Irish- 
men ceased to exist, and in every part of the island 
submission was made to the English power. 

Meanwhile William Pitt, the English prime minis- 



THE UNION OF THE PARLIAMENTS. 253 

tcr, had made up his mind that the time had come to 
execute a design which had for some time occupied 
his thoughts. This was, to abolish the p it t's project 
Irish Parliament altogether, to make the of hnion - 
British Parliament the sble law-making body for 
the three kingdoms, and to give Ireland the right to 
send members to the British Houses of Lords and 
Commons. His decision was undoubtedly hastened 
by the great insurrection which had now been so 
bloodily subdued. But his object could only be car- 
ried out by consent of the Irish Parliament itself. 
The Irish Parliament must be persuaded to take its 
own life, since no act of the British Parliament alone 
could bind it or destroy it. With a view to carrying 
out his purpose, Pitt recalled lord Camden, who had 
been lord-lieutenant through the insurrection, and 
who was lacking in energy, and appointed in his 
place the marquis Cornwallis (the same „ 

* i v Cornwallis 

who had surrendered to Washington at as lord- 
Yorktown). Lord Castlereagh, a selfish 
and ambitious Irishman, was named as Cornwallis's 
chief secretary ; and lord Clare, who was a resolute 
supporter of Pitt's plan, was continued in the office 
of Irish lord-chancellor. 

Cornwallis was not only an able, but a kind-hearted 
and justly disposed man. He revolted from the 
brutal methods by which vengeance had been visited 
upon the conquered Irish. He hated the floggings, 
the burnings, the plundering, the wholesale execu- 
tions, which were going on in Ireland. He resolved 



254 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

upon a milder course. He proclaimed that all rebels, 
except the leaders, who would take the oath of alle- 
giance and submit to the government, should be pro- 
tected. He caused an act of amnesty to be passed, 
which gave pardon to the great mass of those who 
had been in insurrection. He restored, as far as pos- 
sible, order and discipline among the English troops 
in Ireland ; and resolutely put a stop to the acts of 
violence in which the English soldiers had been 
revelling. So lenient and humane, indeed, was the 
rule of Cornwallis, that he roused the easily-evoked 
gratitude of the Irish people, who cried out, " God 
bless you!" as he passed through the Dublin streets. 

The project of William Pitt to get rid of the Irish 
Parliament, and to make the British Parliament the 
Irish opposu sole legislative body for the three king- 
tion to union. c | orn s, aroused intense opposition in Ire- 
land. Protestants and Catholics, peers and land-own- 
ers, tradesmen, farmers, and peasants alike, protested 
against it. It would reduce the power of the nobili- 
ty ; it would ruin trade; it would bind Ireland hand 
and foot to England ; it would take away the last 
vestiges of Irish independence. These were among 
the reasons urged by Irishmen of both faiths, and of 
every social rank, against the " union." On the other 
hand, Pitt promised that, if the union were achieved, 
the Irish Catholics should not only have the vote, 
but should be "emancipated;" that is, should be 
admitted as members of Parliament, and should have 
the right to hold military and civil offices. The chief 



THE UNION OF THE PARLIAMENTS. 255 

reason which he gave for the union was, that it would 
secure England from an invasion of the French by 
way of Ireland ; but this reason he urged to obtain 
English, and not Irish, support to his design. 

Cornwallis, the lord-lieutenant, Clare, the lord- 
chancellor, and Castlereagh, the chief secretary of 
Ireland, were the three agents upon whom „. L 

& l The promot- 

Pitt relied to induce the Irish Parliament ersofthe 
to give up its existence, and to assent to umon - 
the legislative union. Cornwallis hated the work 
thus committed to him, but undertook it because he 
was convinced that the union was necessary to the 
power of the British empire. His two colleagues 
were less scrupulous, and entered upon their task 
with eager energy. The method by which the Irish 
Parliament was to be extinguished, was one of sheer 
bribery and corruption. The union was to be ob- 
tained by downright force and fraud. No means, 
however bad, were to be left untried to compel or in- 
duce the Irish members in both Houses to agree to 
it. What removal from office, threats, 

Methods 

the grant of peerages, could not do, Irish adopted to 
money was to be freely spent in doing. secure the 

J J , union. 

Never did the officials of a great nation 
descend to methods more base to reach the end 
they had in view. The wish of the overwhelming ma- 
jority of the Irish people, who ardently longed to 
retain what liberties they had, was to be overcome 
by pandering to the fears and the avarice of their 
representatives. 



256 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

The first attempt to bring about the union, how- 
ever, failed. The Irish Parliament was summoned 
(Jan. 22, 1799) ; and in the "speech from the throne," 
delivered at the opening" of its session, the project of 
the union was vaguely mentioned. This at once 
aroused its patriotic opponents. A long and tem- 
pestuous debate followed. Among the ardent speak- 
ers against the measure was Sir John Parnell, — a 
name destined to be identified, in later years, with a 
far more formidable struggle in behalf of Irish liberty. 
„. „ J , At last a vote was taken, and the project 

First de'eat l _ J 

of the pro- of union was defeated by five majority. 
For a while it seemed as if Pitt's plan 
would fail ; and there was great rejoicing among the 
Irish patriots everywhere. But now began the vigor- 
ous application of fraud, force, and corruption. 
Those officials who were opposed to the union were 
turned out of their places. A large number of the 
boroughs, which chose members to the Irish Parlia- 
ment, were in reality owned by noblemen and great 
land-owners ; and the seats had long been purchased 
and sold for money. Castlereagh agreed to buy out 
these owners of seats, and to pay for each seat the 
sum of ,£15,000. 

In this way, no less than eighty-five seats were 
bought by the government, at a cost of ,£1,950,000; 
Purchase of anc ^ tms sum was charged upon the Irish 
parliament- revenue. One nobleman, the marquis of 
Ely, received ,£45,000 for the six boroughs 
he owned; and another, the marquis of Downshire, 



THE UNION OF THE PARLIAMENTS. 257 

received .£52,000 for his seven. Twenty-two oppo- 
nents of the union were bribed by English titles of 
nobility ; twenty-two more were raised in rank in 
the Irish peerage ; and many were rewarded for 
betraying their country, and favoring the union, by 
judgeships, offices, pensions, and army commissions. 
Even some of the bishops and clergy, both Protes- 
tant and Catholic, were bribed by rectorships, sti- 
pends, and other appointments. The Protestant 
church was persuaded by the promise that it should 
be established forever as the state church of Ireland. 
The way being thus prepared, the Irish Parliament 
was once more called together (January, 1800), and 
the subject of the union was once more promptly 
brought before it. 

For a long time, little had been heard or seen of 
Henry Grattan, the eloquent patriot who had secured 
the independence of the Irish Parliament eight years 
before. He had held aloof from the D 

Re-appear- 

United Irishmen, and had taken no part ance of . 
in the great insurrection. He had be- 
come broken in health, and had nearly passed out of 
the minds of men. But now, at this great crisis in 
Ireland's history, when the liberties for which he 
had successfully fought were about to be wrested 
from her, Grattan once more appeared upon the 
scene. A seat in the House of Commons was se- 
cured for him at Wicklow. Feeble with illness, the 
great patriot dragged himself into the House to 
make a last appeal for his unhappy country. He 



258 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

was too weak to stand, and so spoke sitting in his 
chair. As he went on, his voice gradually gathered 
strength, and he poured forth his vehement sentences 
with all his wonted fire. 

But Grattan's fervid eloquence was of no avail. 
After a series of hot debates, and after vote after 
The union vote had shown that the unionists were 
carried. m a \ ar g e majority, the bill abolishing the 

Irish Parliament, and merging it in that of Great 
Britain, was adopted by the Irish House of Com- 
mons by a vote of one hundred and fifty-three to 
eighty-eight. It soon after passed the Irish House 
of Lords, was signed by the king, and thereby be- 
came a law. Thus the Irish Parliament ceased to 
exist. It had never truly represented the Irish 
people, but only the Protestant and English minority 
in Ireland. In its later years, it had become very 
corrupt and inefficient. Its final act was base and 
treacherous. Yet patriotic Irishmen mourned to 
see it become extinct, since it had been the only 
feeble barrier against complete English ascendancy. 

The most important conditions of the union of the 
two Parliaments into one, were as follows. Ireland 
now sent one hundred members to the British House 
conditions of Commons. In the British House of 
of the union. L orc ] S) Ireland was represented by four 
bishops of the Protestant Episcopal church, and by 
twenty-eight peers, elected for life by the whole body 
of Irish peers. The number of Irish members of the 
Commons has since been increased to one hundred 



THE UNION OF THE PARLIAMENTS. 259 

and three. The Protestant-Episcopal church was 
established as the state church of Ireland. Irish 
peers, not elected among the twenty-eight, were given 
the right to be elected and to sit as members of the 
British House of Commons. The British House of 
Lords was made the final court of appeal from Irish 
as well as English courts. The national debts of the 
two islands were kept separate, and Ireland was now 
required to raise two-fifths of the revenue of the 
united kingdom. The debt created after the union, 
was made a joint one. Commercial equality was es- 
tablished between the two islands. Each was for- 
bidden to impose any duty on the goods produced by 
the other. The act of union went into actual opera- 
tion on the 1st of January succeeding its passage 
(1801). 



260 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

DANIEL O'CONNELL. 

THE union of the Parliaments, obtained as it was 
by wholesale force, fraud, and corruption, caused 
intense discontent among the Irish people. In less 
than two years, an attempt was made to revive the 
United Irishmen, and a few daring spirits planned a 
Robert rebellion. Chief among these was Robert 

Emmet. Emmet, a young man of ardent temper and 

fervent love of country. Emmet gathered about him 
a few young men, and one day sallied forth in Dub- 
lin at the head of eighty adherents, to take posses- 
sion of the city. The people did not respond to his 
summons, and Emmet was forced to hide himself. 
He might now have escaped ; but he was in love with 
Sarah Curran, the daughter of the great Irish advo- 
cate, John Philpott Curran, and resolved to see her 
once more before seeking safety in flight. While 
he was awaiting his chance for an interview, he was 
arrested. He was promptly tried for high treason, 
and hung (1803). Notwithstanding the folly and 
failure of his attempt, the name of Robert Emmet is 
still loved in Ireland as that of a zealous and self- 
sacrificing patriot. 



DANIEL O'CONNELL. 26l 

The Irish Catholics had been promised, before the 
union, that they should be "emancipated;" that is, 
that the laws which prevented them from voting, 
sitting as members of Parliament, and holding civil 
and military offices, should be done away with. But 
after the union, Pitt failed to redeem this promise. 
He might have redeemed it, had it not been for the 
obstinate refusal of George the Third to consent to 
Catholic emancipation. The king would not listen 
to such a thing ; and the result was, that the rights 
of the Irish Catholics were not conceded to them 
until many years after. There now ensued a revival 
of the acts of violence into which the Irish Renewed 
always fell when they despaired of getting lawlessness, 
justice from the laws. The Whiteboys once more 
came into existence ; and, in various parts of the 
island, cattle were maimed, houses were burned, and 
landlords and their agents were maltreated. The 
government met this state of things by passing a 
severe "coercion act," by which the ordinary laws 
were suspended, and large powers were given to the 
lord-lieutenant and the magistrates. To this were 
added the suspension of the habeas corpus, and an 
■"arms act," by which the Irish were forbidden to 
keep arms, and the authorities were empowered to 
search houses for them. 

Henry Grattan was now an old man. But, al- 
though the Irish Parliament which he had estab- 
lished had been suppressed, Grattan's heart and 
voice were still devoted to his unhappy country. He 



262 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

became a member of the British Parliament, and 
within its walls eloquently urged that Catholic eman- 
cipation should be granted to Ireland. He continued 
to devote all his energies to this object until his death 
(1820). But now a new and still more powerful 
champion of Irish rights was fast rising into public 
Daniel notice. This was Daniel O'Connell. This 

o'Conneii. great leader, who was by profession a law- 
yer, and who belonged to an old and landed family 
in south-western Ireland, first came into notice as 
the chairman of a committee, whose purpose it was 
to agitate before Parliament the Catholic claim to 
political freedom (1808). He was already known as 
an eloquent pleader, with a powerful frame, a strong, 
melodious, sonorous voice, and a bold and vigorous 
temperament. The previous leaders of the Irish 
cause were Protestants : CTConnell was a zealous 
Catholic. He was thirty-five, in the early prime of 
his manhood. 

O'Connell in no long time became the undisputed 
chief of the Irish patriots. At first he hesitated 
whether to pursue an agitation to repeal the act of 
union, and restore the Irish Parliament, or to confine 
himself to seeking to obtain Catholic emancipation. 
He decided upon the latter course. A strong party 
in Ireland was soon formed to support him. Promi- 
nent among his adherents was Richard Lalor Shiel, 
who was a vehement, eloquent orator, and an earnest 
patriot ; and once more the familiar name of Parnell 
appears, in Sir Henry, as a leader in the patriot 



DANIEL O'CONNELL. 263 

cause. The agitation for Catholic emancipation be- 
came active and formidable, and was continued with 
ever-increasing force for six years (1823-29). In the 
mean time. Ireland suffered terribly from repeated 
failures of the potato crop. The mass of the Irish 
people have always relied upon potatoes as their 
principal food. Whenever, therefore, the potato 
crop has failed, the horrors of famine have followed ; 
and to famine has usually been added, in many places, 
desperate deeds of violence. In one year (1822) 
many hundreds of thousands of Irish were fed daily 
by charity. Great numbers died of downright star- 
vation ; and so turbulent was the country, that a large 
military force was needed to keep it from drifting 
into anarchy. 

The first important step which O'Connell took 
was to form the "Catholic Association." The catholic 
This society was organized to get up pe- Association, 
titions, to arrange public meetings, to spread pam- 
phlets, and to aid in sending men to Parliament who 
were in favor of Catholic emancipation. Its mem- 
bers paid an annual assessment of a guinea ($5.25) ; 
and it was headed by a select committee, to whom 
was committed the work of carrying forward its 
objects. In no long time the association contained 
half a million Irishmen. In order to obtain funds 
for keeping up the agitation, the Irish Catholics 
were asked to contribute a penny a month. This 
was called the "Catholic rent," and soon produced 
no less a sum than five hundred pounds a week. So 



264 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

rapidly did the society increase, that the government 
became alarmed. It was finally suppressed by law 
(1825). But O'Connell was equal to the occasion. 
He simply changed the name of the society, and 
went on with his agitation. 

At last O'Connell resorted to a bold expedient. 
He desired to show England that the Irish nation 
demanded political liberty for the Catholics. The 
law forbade a Catholic to sit in Parliament ; but it 
did not say that a Catholic could not be a candidate, 
and be elected to Parliament. A vacancy occurred 
in the Irish county of Clare. O'Connell suddenly 
presented himself as a candidate. After a stormy 
contest, he was triumphantly elected. But he re- 
fused to take the oath in the House of Commons, 
for the oath rejected the Catholic faith. Both Eng- 
land and Ireland were now wrought up to a high 
pitch of excitement. It was seen that, unless O'Con- 
nell's demand was conceded, civil war would ensue. 
The duke of Wellington, a Tory, was prime minister. 
In spite of his dislike of Catholic emanci- 

Cathohc L 

Emancipa- pation, he felt compelled to grant it. A 
tion won. bin wag brought in, which admitted the 
Catholics to Parliament, and to civil and military 
office. It passed both Houses, was signed by George 
the Fourth, and became a law of the land (1829). 

By the provisions of the new law the oath which 
compelled a Catholic, before he could sit in Parlia- 
ment, to renounce his religion, was done away with. 
All he had now to do was, to swear that he would 



DANIEL O'CONNELL. 265 

sustain the Protestant succession and the reigning 
dynasty on the throne, and that he would not injure 
the Protestant religion. Any Roman Catholic might 
now sit in either House of Parliament, except that 
no Catholic priest could be a member of the Com- 
mons. O'Connell took his seat as member for Clare. 
His triumph was brilliant, but was not entirely com- 
plete ; for, while Parliament gave Catholic emanci- 
pation, it at the same time restricted the suffrage in 
Ireland. Before the passage of Catholic emancipa- 
tion, Irishmen who held freehold estates, the rent of 
which exceeded forty shillings, could vote for mem- 
bers of Parliament. But now a law was Qualification 
passed raising the qualification for voting for votin e- 
to ten pounds ; that is, no Irishman could now vote 
in a county, who did not have an estate valued at a 
ten-pounds' rental. A few years later, the ten- 
pounds qualification was extended to the boroughs as 
well as the counties, and thus included all Ireland. 

This restriction of the Irish suffrage deprived 
six-eighths of the former electors of their votes. It 
naturally lessened the satisfaction afforded by the 
emancipation of the Catholics. It enabled the land- 
lords to deal more severely with their tenants, and 
thus brought about evictions, distress, deeds of vio- 
lence, and a renewal of the harsh laws of coercion. 
Meanwhile O'Connell and his adherents did not rest 
content with the victory which their boldness and 
persistency had wrung from the British Parliament. 
The political rights of the Catholics had been 



266 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

achieved. O'Connell had learned the power and 
successful results of a vigorously sustained agitation, 
conducted without violating law, and without resort 
to physical force. He now resolved to apply this 
effective method to another and yet more important 
purpose. This purpose was to repeal the union of 
the Parliaments, to recall into existence the separate 
Irish Parliament, and thus to restore to Ireland the 
self-government enjoyed during the last eight years 
of the eighteenth century. 



THE THREE YEARS' FAMINE. 267 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE THREE YEARS' FAMINE. 

THE Irish Catholics, who comprised an immense 
majority of the country, had long felt it a bitter 
grievance that they were forced to pay for the sup- 
port of the Protestant church. Under the law, 
every Irishman was compelled to pay his tithe, or 
the tenth part of his cattle, to maintain the Protes- 
tant bishops, clergy, and sacred edifices. The 
wretched condition of the country now drove the 
peasants into a stubborn resistance to this tax. 
The "tithe proctors," as the agents who collected 
the tithe were called, were utterly hated, The co iiec- 
and were often subjected to violence. tion of tithes - 
Many of the cattle seized for tithes were maimed 
or killed ; nor did any one dare to buy the cattle 
so seized, when they were put up at auction, for 
fear of the vengeance of the peasants. A large 
force of soldiers had to be used to enforce the col- 
lection of these tithes. At last, in the first year of 
the reign of Victoria, a law was passed by which 
the peasants, or tenants, were relieved of the pay- 
ment of tithes, which were now imposed upon the 



268 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

landlords (1838). But this did not always prove a 
benefit to the tenants ; for the landlords, in many- 
cases, raised their rents so as to cover the amount of 
the tithes. 

A short time before, two reforms relating to Ire- 
land had been adopted, and had proved of benefit to 
the country. One was the establishment of a sys- 
tem of elementary schools ; the other, the reduction 
of the number of Protestant bishops, by which the 
cost of the established church was considerably les- 
sened. In the same year that the tithes were trans- 
,, . f erred to the landlords, occurred the great 

Father ' & 

Mathew's temperance revival in Ireland, led by the 
ardent, eloquent young priest, Father 
Mathew ; in the course of which nearly two hun- 
dred thousand Irish subscribed to the pledge not to 
drink any intoxicating liquors. The results of this 
revival upon crime in Ireland, and upon the habits 
and condition of the people, were most beneficent. 
It was while Father Mathew was stirring the popular 
heart with his fervent appeals in behalf of temperance, 
that Daniel O'Connell entered upon his second great 
agitation, — that to dissolve the union of the Parlia- 
ments, and to restore the old " Grattan's " Parlia- 
ment (1838). In doing this, he pursued the same 
methods which he had so successfully used in bring- 
ing about the political emancipation of the Catholics. 
O'Connell's first step was to form a " Repeal As- 
sociation," similar to the " Catholic Association " 
which had done such effective work. In no long 



THE THREE YEARS* FAMINE. 269 

time the society had grown into a numerous and 
enthusiastic body. It was mainly composed of the 
middle and lower classes, and there were many more 
Catholics than Protestants in its ranks. Yet it con- 
tained many Protestants, and many well-educated 
young men of both creeds joined the movement. 
O'Connell was the leading spirit. He organized 
monster meetings in Ireland, at which he declaimed 
about the wrongs of the land, recalled the T he Repeal 
cruelties, tyrannies, and miseries of the Association, 
past, and wrought the people up to a high pitch 
of excitement. Money flowed into the coffers of the 
society. The English government at first tolerated 
the repeal meetings, in the hope that the agitation 
would in time cease. But as it became more alarm- 
ing and formidable, the ministry resolved to suppress 
the gatherings of the association. 

It was announced that a great repeal meeting 
would take place at Clontarf (the scene of the deci- 
sive conflict between the Irish and the Danes) on 
October 8 (1843). O'Connell and other repeal chiefs 
were to be present, and address the multitude. The 
English ministry issued a proclamation forbidding the 
meeting. The more ardent repealers insisted that 
the government should be defied, and that the meet- 
ing should be held in spite of its prohibition. But 
O'Connell, who was always opposed to the use of 
physical force in aiming to obtain Irish rights, de- 
clared that the proclamation must be obeyed. The 
Clontarf meeting: was not held. O'Connell and 



27O YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

eight of his lieutenants were arrested, and tried for 
treason. They were at first convicted by a packed 
jury; but their decision was overruled by the House 
of Lords, and O'Connell and his companions were 
set free. The success of the government in vigor- 
ously dealing with the repeal agitation, gave that 
agitation its death-blow. O'Connell's popularity 
with the Irish masses rapidly waned. The cause of 
repeal was abandoned by many of its former leaders ; 
and in a short time was followed by another Irish 
agitation, which had an altogether different end in 
view. 

But before a new struggle was to take place on 
behalf of Irish liberty, the island was doomed to a 
terrible calamity. A famine, more extensive and 
The long devastating than had ever before desolated 
famine. ^g J r i s h people, spread through the land. 

Once more wet and chilly seasons caused repeated 
failures of the potato crop (1845-47). A winter of 
dreadful distress among the poor peasantry ensued. 
Thousands were unable to pay their rent ; and when 
the landlords, as was the case in many instances, tried 
to force them to pay it, they resorted, in their desper- 
ation, to violence and outrage. The government 
made several efforts to relieve the distress of the 
Irish. The corn-laws, which placed a high duty on 
bread-stuffs, were repealed. Large sums were voted 
to employ the starving people as laborers on the 
building of roads and public buildings. At one time, 
more than seven hundred thousand men were thus 



THE THREE YEARS FAMINE. 2J\ 

provided with work. Yet the second year of the 
famine was worse than the first. The abolition of 
the corn-laws did not bring the expected relief to 
Ireland ; nor did the large employment of men on 
public works suffice to supply the starving families 
with sufficient food to keep them alive. 

It is a strange and startling fact, that at this very 
time, when thousands of families were utterly fam- 
ished, Ireland was sending abroad more shiploads of 
wheat and other grain and provisions, than any coun- 
try in the world. There was plenty of food ; but it 
was beyond the reach of the poor, rent-ridden, hungry 
Irish peasants. Other sufferings were soon . . 

r ° Intense 

added to that of famine. The wretched suffering in 
huts, the miserably scant clothing of the 
peasants, exposed them mercilessly to cold storms 
and winds. Fevers and other contagious disorders 
spread rapidly among the villages and farming-dis- 
tricts. Men, women, and children died daily by hun- 
dreds, often breathing their last breath by the road- 
side, in the ditches, or in the fields among the blighted 
potato crops. Charitable societies and committees 
were formed for the purpose of supplying, as far as 
possible, food for the starving multitude. Cooked 
provisions were energetically distributed by these 
societies and the more humane landlords. But the 
calamity proved too wide-spread to be checked by 
any exertion that was or could be made. 

One important result of this terrible and long-con- 
tinued famine was to drive many thousands of the 



272 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Irish to seek homes m other countries. Most of 
these came across the Atlantic to Canada and the 
United States. One hundred thousand landed, in 
increased one year, in Canada alone. Many of the 
emigration, emigrants were emaciated, and stricken 
with disease. Large numbers died on shipboard, or 
soon after their arrival in America. In a less degree 
the tide of emigration carried many of the Irish 
into England. When the famine began, the popula- 
tion of Ireland had comprised eight millions of 
people. When, at last, the frightful scourge had 
spent its force, the population of Ireland had been 
reduced, by death and emigration, to less than six 
millions. The country had lost two millions of its 
people. The severity of many of the landlords, and 
the " coercion " laws which Parliament had passed 
to suppress the desperate acts of the peasants dur- 
ing the period of the famine, rekindled the hatred of 
England in Irish breasts. The famine thus prepared 
the Irish for the next movement for trying to throw 
off the English yoke altogether. 



LATER REVOLTS. 273 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

LATER REVOLTS. 

TT 7HILE O'Connell's agitation to restore the Irish 
V V Parliament was going on, a new party came 
into existence in Ireland. This party consisted, to a 
large degree, of young men, who desired, not only 
that should the Irish Parliament be revived, but that 
Ireland should become altogether independent of 
England. Its members were not satisfied with the 
moderate demands of O'Connell ; nor did they accept 
O'Connell's idea, that in no event should Irishmen 
fight for their liberties. They believed that when 
all other means of securing the freedom of their 
country failed, Irishmen should take up arms in her 
cnuse. The leading spirits of this " Young "Young 
Ireland " party, as it was called, were IreIand -" 
Thomas Davis, John Blake Dillon, Gavan Duffy, 
Smith O'Brien, John Mitchel, Thomas Francis 
Meagher, and John Martin. All of them were 
young men. Dillon and Duffy were Catholics. 
O'Brien, Mitchel, Davis, and Martin were Protes- 
tants. Every one of these men was an undoubted 
patriot. 



274 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

The first step of the Young Ireland party was to 
found a newspaper, which they called " The Nation " 
(1842). It forcibly advocated Ireland's cause. It 
presented vivid pictures of the wrongs under which 
Ireland was suffering. It did not approve of 
O'Connell's course and methods. The ability with 
which "The Nation " was conducted won for it wide- 
spread influence in Ireland. Soon after O'Connell's 
death, John Mitchel, impatient of the delay of the 
Young Irelanders in taking up arms, founded another 
paper, "The United Irishman," which boldly ad- 
vocated insurrection. Mitchel was arrested, tried 
for treason, and transported beyond seas for fourteen 
years. Immediately another paper, "The Irish Trib- 
incitements une," edited by Kevin Izod O'Doherty, 
to revolt. was j ssuec i ) urging the people to rebel ; 
and soon after, yet another journal, edited by John 
Martin, and devoted to the same object, made its 
appearance. O'Doherty, Martin, and others were 
arrested ; and the government made a strenuous at- 
tempt to crush out Irish disaffection by suspending 
the habeas corpus act. 

These events were followed by the breaking-out of 
the third French revolution. The Young Ireland 
party caught from France the spirit of revolt (1848). 
Smith O'Brien took the lead of the Irish insurgents. 
With Dillon and Meagher, he made a desperate effort 
to persuade the people at various points to rise in 
arms. The attempt, however, was a disheartening 
failure. In two or three places disturbances occurred, 



LATER REVOLTS. 275 

but the triumph of the government was easy. The 
leaders were speedily captured. O'Brien capture of 
and Meagher were transported for life, and Insh ,eaders - 
O'Doherty and Martin for ten years. Dillon escaped 
to the United States. Duffy was released, after a 
failure to convict him. In the following year, an- 
other feeble attempt at insurrection was made, but 
was quickly suppressed. The wretchedness of the 
Irish tenantry again caused a marked increase in emi- 
gration. The landlords exacted rents which it was 
impossible for the tenants to pay ; and, when they 
did not pay, the landlords remorselessly turned them 
out of their little holdings, often to starve or freeze 
to death by the roadside. 

For many years after the failure of the rising of 
Young Ireland, indeed, the history of the island con- 
sists of the story of the miseries produced by the 
Irish land-system. Not only did the land- Evils of the 
lords demand high rents, and "evict," or lan d-system. 
turn out, the tenants unable to pay them ; but they 
also reaped the advantage of the added value of the 
land, caused by the improvements made upon it by 
tlie tenants. When such improvements had been 
added, the rents were raised in consequence of the 
increase thus effected in the value of the land. This 
was called "rack-renting." The officers of the law 
aided the landlords to collect their rents and to turn 
out their tenants. The tenants had no protection 
from any source. Thousands were thus reduced to 
the most desperate poverty. The result was, that 



276 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

many acts of violence took place in different parts 
Agrarian of the island. Landlords and their agents 
violence. went about in peril of their lives. Cattle 
were maimed ; and houses, barns, and hay-ricks were 
burned. The attempts made by the British Parlia- 
ment to remedy these terrible evils in Ireland were 
fitful, and did not prove effectual. 

Ten years after the suppression of the Young Ire- 
land revolt, another and far more formidable society 
was formed, for the purpose of obtaining the separa- 
tion of Ireland from Great Britain by force of arms 
(1858). The leaders of the Young Ireland revolt 
had been amnestied, and were once more free men. 
Some of them had returned home ; and these en- 
tered upon a fresh effort to secure freedom for 
their country. They formed what is now famous as 
The Fenian the " Fenian brotherhood." At its head 
brotherhood. was j ames Stevens, a resolute and able 
man, who had taken part in the rising of 1848. At 
first it seemed as if the Fenian conspiracy would be 
as short-lived as that of Young Ireland. Its secret 
meetings were revealed to the government, and its 
chiefs were arrested and thrown into jail. But it 
was aided and supported, to an extent that no pre- 
vious conspiracy had been, by the Irish in the United 
States. Branches of the society were formed in 
American cities and towns. Funds were raised, and 
men provided, for the operations of the brotherhood. 

In the year following the close of the American 
civil war (1866), the Fenians had become a wide- 



LATER REVOLTS. 277 

spread and powerful association. A Fenian paper, 
"The Irish People," had been established. Stevens, 
the "head centre" of the Fenians, who had been 
captured, had escaped from prison, and was again 
actively employed in the projects of the society. 
The arrest and transportation of some of the other 
leaders had only increased the popularity of the 
brotherhood among the Irish. The Ameri- The Ameri- 
can Fenians organized a well-trained force, can Fenians - 
which invaded Canada, defeated the Canadian volun- 
teers sent to oppose them, and were only deterred 
from a further advance by the intervention of the 
United States. At about the same time a plot was 
formed by the Fenians in England to seize the castle 
of Chester, and thence make a descent upon Ireland. 
This project was revealed to the British cabinet by 
treacherous Fenians, and was therefore not attempted. 
Early in the following year, the Fenians tried to in- 
cite a general revolt in Ireland ; but this, too, proved 
an utter failure. The government had again sus- 
pended the habeas corpus ; and, following upon the 
discomfiture of the Fenian plans, large Arrest of 
numbers of those who had been concerned Fenian 
in them, were arrested, hastily tried, con- 
victed, and punished with imprisonment and trans- 
portation. 

In spite of all these failures, Fenianism was not 
yet crushed. Two startling events, which took place 
in the same year (1867), reminded the world that its 
fierce spirit still survived. The first of these events 



278 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

occurred at Manchester, England. Two Fenians were 
one day being taken in a prison-van from the court- 
house, where they had just been convicted, to jail. 
As the van was passing through the streets, it was 
assailed by a part)ipof armed Irishmen, who attempted 
to rescue the prisoners. In the struggle which en- 
sued, a policeman named Brett was killed by the as- 
sailants. The latter were captured ; and, after a brief 
_. ■ trial, three of them — O'Brien, Larkin, and 

The Man- 
chester Allen — were condemned to death and exe- 
tragedy. cu ted. Their fate caused intense agitation 
throughout Ireland. The three men were looked 
upon as martyrs ; and great gatherings took place in 
Ireland, to celebrate their funerals. Many promi- 
nent Englishmen tried to save their lives, but the 
appeals of men like John Bright and John Stuart 
Mill proved unavailing. 

Less than a month after the execution of the Man- 
chester rescuers, a barbarous attempt was made to 
blow up Clerkenwell prison in London. Some Feni- 
ans were incarcerated in this prison, and one of their 
comrades, a man named Barrett, took it into his head 
to try to release them by shattering the prison-wall 
with gunpowder. He placed a barrel of powder near 
the wall, and set it off. The result was, not to effect 
rken *-he esca P e °f the Fenian prisoners, but to 
weii expio- kill several innocent persons, and to injure 
many more. Nothing could be more 
stupid or cruel than this crime. It made Fenianism 
obnoxious to many Irishmen who had before sympa- 




Ifctf&Kl- 



The Manchester Tragedy. — Page 278. 



LATER REVOLTS. 279 

thizcd with the society, and it aroused indignation 
throughout the world. Barrett was tried and hung. 
But the Manchester and Clerkenwell affairs had at 
least one striking result. They showed how bitterly 
the Irish continued to regard the unjust laws, insti- 
tutions, and oppressions, to which they were still 
subjected by English power ; and they aroused a 
great English statesman to sternly resolve that he 
would seek out, and try to remedy, the evils which 
had created and fostered Irish discontent. 



280 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

Gladstone's irish reforms. 

IN the year following the Manchester and Clerken- 
well tragedies, William Ewart Gladstone became, 
for the first time, prime minister of England (1868). 
,,,.,,. He was already a statesman of long ex- 

Wilham J ° 

Ewart perience, and of unsurpassed genius. He 

had been a member of the House of Com- 
mons for more than thirty years, and had repeatedly 
sat in previous cabinets. After the retirement from 
office of Lord Russell (1866), Mr. Gladstone had be- 
come the acknowledged leader of the Liberal party. 
He had entered public life as a Tory. But in the 
course of years his political convictions had con- 
stantly become broader and more liberal. He had, 
moreover, won the confidence of the English people 
by the long-proved sincerity, uprightness, and moral 
elevation of his public acts and of his personal char- 
acter. No statesman could have been better fitted 
to deal with a subject so difficult, so important, and so 
replete with moral aspects, as was that of Ireland. 

Mr. Gladstone perceived that it was necessary to 
deal without delay, and with resolute energy, with 



Gladstone's irish reforms. 281 

the state of Ireland. The disaffection of the Irish 
to English rule, and the great abuses which had 
grown up under, and had been fostered by, that rule 
in Ireland, had been so persistently revealed through- 
out the period succeeding the union of the 
Parliaments, that it was vitally important, ^ ° l * d ~ 
if possible, to apply a remedy. Mr. Glad- votes himself 
stone set about the task of removing some reforms, 
of the chief grievances of which the Irish 
justly complained. His earnest desire was to remove 
them, and to reconcile the Irish to English rule, by 
getting rid, as far as possible, of those features of 
English rule which fostered the discontent of the 
Irish. Those features were, as he declared, three : 
" the established church, the system of land tenure, 
and the system of national education." With each 
of these he proposed to deal, by framing and passing 
laws which would either greatly modify them, or get 
rid of them altogether. 

One of Mr. Gladstone's first acts as prime minister 
was to assert, in the House of Commons, that the 
Irish Protestant church, as a church recog- The Irish 
nized and sustained by the state, must church - 
cease to exist. It was the church of the small mi- 
nority of Irishmen ; yet it was to a large degree sup- 
ported, on compulsion, by the contributions of Irish 
Catholics. It had not increased, and had utterly failed 
to fulfil the mission intrusted to it, of converting the 
masses of the Irish to the Protestant faith. It held 
property to the amount of ^14,000,000, for the most 



282 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

part confiscated in preceding centuries from Catholic 
owners. It was, in short, a slothful and stagnant 
church, enjoying wealth for which it made no return, 
and always prominent, in the eyes of the immense 
majority of the Irish, as a symbol of English oppres- 
sion. Mr. Gladstone therefore brought in a bill to 
"disestablish and disendow" the Irish church ; that 
is, to deprive it of its position as the state church, and 
to take away from it a part, at least, of the property 
it had, in the process of years, acquired. 

After a long struggle, in the course of which the 
House of Lords once rejected it, the bill was finally 
Disestablish- P assed > and became a law (July 26, 1869). 
ment of the From and after January 1, 1871, the Irish 
state church ceased to exist. At the 
same time, the grant which had long been made from 
the English treasury to the Irish Catholic college of 
Maynooth, was withdrawn. Only a portion of the 
property of the Irish church was taken from it. 
Over ;£ 10,000,000 still remained in the hands of 
its bishops and clergy. The sum of which it was 
deprived (about ,£4,000,000) was reserved, to be 
devoted to the relief of the Irish if a famine, or some 
other terrible scourge, should come upon them. The 
next object of Mr. Gladstone's attack was the system 
of the Irish land. The powers of the landlords, used 
most often cruelly and oppressively, formed a far 
more serious material grievance to the Irish masses 
than the Irish church. The question, too, was a 
far harder one to solve. To deal justly by the land- 



Gladstone's irish reforms. 283 

lords on the one hand, and the tenants on the other, 
was a task calculated to tax the ability of the great- 
est statesman. 

Mr. Gladstone made two efforts to settle the rela- 
tions between the Irish landlords and their tenants, 
so that the rights of both might be pro- .. _, . 

o ± Mr. Glad- 

tected. His first attempt was made in the stone's first 
year following the disestablishment of the 
Irish church (1870), and his second attempt was 
made eleven years after (1881). In his first Irish 
land bill, Mr. Gladstone sought to lessen the power of 
the landlords to turn the tenants out of their hold- 
ings at the landlords' will and caprice ; to secure to 
the tenants payment for any improvements they 
might make on their plots of land ; to enable tenants, 
by easy methods, to become absolute owners of the 
land they tilled ; and to give tenants the right to 
sell out their leases to others, if they wished to do 
so. Various causes combined, however, to render 
this measure, though well intended, an ineffectual 
one. The landlords evaded its provisions, and in- 
duced the tenants to make agreements which de- 
prived them of the privileges the new law gave 
them. The cost of appealing to the courts, to sup- 
port their rights under the law, was too great for the 
poor peasants, who lived constantly from hand to 
mouth ; and it soon appeared that Mr. Gladstone's 
measure was practically a failure. 

To improve the system of education in Ireland 
was the next object of Mr. Gladstone's exertions. 



284 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Much, indeed, had been done in the previous twenty 
insh years to remove the inequalities between 

education. the jj-jgjj Catholics and Protestants in 
public instruction, and to give the Irish larger op- 
portunities than before to educate their children. 
The children of the poorer classes had, to a certain 
extent, been supplied with common schools. Three 
colleges, devoted to purely secular instruction, had 
been established at Belfast, Galway, and Cork, and 
had been grouped into a university. The Catholic 
college at Maynooth had been supported in part by 
grants made from the public treasury. Trinity Col- 
lege, Dublin, moreover, the ancient Irish college, 
which had once excluded Catholics both from its 
government, its professorships, and its classes, had 
recently been thrown open to students of all creeds. 
The Catholics, however, did not feel that, in the 
matter of education, they had been placed on an 
entire equality with their Protestant countrymen ; 
and Mr. Gladstone resolved to try to remove the 
cause of their complaint. 

Three years after the passage of the first land bill, 

Mr. Gladstone introduced a measure re-organizing 

the system of Irish education (1873). He 

Defeat of J ... 

Mr. Giad- proposed to set up a great Irish university 
stone's edu- j n pj ace f those already existing, which 

cation bill. r J & _ 

were to be abolished. In the new institu- 
tion, neither theology nor history was to be taught. 
The measure met with prompt disaster. It was 
defeated in the House of Commons by a small major- 



Gladstone's irish reforms. 285 

ity, and was the cause of the downfall of Mr. Glad- 
stone and his colleagues. They remained at the 
head of affairs a year longer, it is true ; but the blow 
dealt by the vote on the Irish education bill was fatal 
to the power of the ministry. After such an event, 
Mr. Gladstone could not hope to deal successfully 
with any large measure of reform, either for Ireland 
or for Great Britian. His successor, Mr. Disraeli, 
carried a measure which swept awav the 

J Mr. Dis- 

" queen's colleges" of Belfast and Cork, raeii's edu- 
and which set up a board of examiners, catIonal 

1 measures. 

who were empowered to examine Irish stu- 
dents, and to confer degrees upon them. He also de- 
voted ,£1,000,000 of the money taken from the Irish 
church, to the support of certain Irish schools. 

While English -statesmen were thus attempting to 
make laws which would remove the long and deep- 
seated discontent of the Irish, a fresh project was 
being matured by Irish leaders to secure, by agita- 
tion, broader objects than those pursued by Mr. 
Gladstone. A league was formed for the purpose of 
advocating and urging "Home Rule" The Home- 
(1871). "Home Rule "meant, that Ireland »»'» League, 
should be allowed to make the laws which related to 
her own local affairs and interests. It was proposed 
by the league, that for this object, an Irish Parlia- 
ment should be created. The new association was 
composed of both Protestants and Catholics. Its 
leader was Isaac Butt, a Protestant lawyer of great 
ability. Its growth was rapid ; and, at the next par- 



286 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

liamentary election succeeding its formation, fifty- 
one Home Rulers were chosen by Irish districts to 
sit in the House of Commons (1874). Mr. Butt and 
his followers soon found, however, that there was, at 
that time, a more pressing subject than that of Home 
Rule which demanded their energies and advocacy. 
This was the question of the land. 

The condition of the tenants and peasants was 
still wretched. Mr. Gladstone's land-act had failed 
to relieve them. The landlords were still tyrannical, 
_. , . overbearing, and powerful. Meanwhile 

The land- °' L 

question the potato-crop again partly failed, and 

once more Ireland was threatened with 
famine. The Home-Rule leaders, therefore, for the 
time abandoned their demand for a local legislature, 
and vigorously took up the land* question. They 
urged that the Irish tenants should be granted " fix- 
ity of tenure, fair rents, and free sale ; " that is, that 
they should not be turned out of their land so long 
as they paid their rent, that that rent should be a 
fair one, and that they should have the right to sell 
their unexpired leases if they so wished. Soon after 
this agitation to reform the land system had been 
begun, Mr. Butt died, and was replaced by Mr. Shaw 
as the leader of the league (1879). Mr. Shaw's 
leadership was brief. He was speedily forced to 
give way to a new group of Irish chiefs, who were 
destined to make Irish agitation for Irish rights more 
formidable and effective than it had ever been 
before. 



THE LAND LEAGUE. 287 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

THE LAND LEAGUE. 

WHILE the Home-Rule league was pursuing its 
agitation under the lead of Isaac Butt, a quiet, 
unobtrusive young man had taken his seat for the 
first time in the House of Commons, as the member 
for the county of Meath ([875). At first he took no 
part in the proceedings of the House, and attracted 
little attention. He was barely thirty years of age. 
He was a Protestant and a landlord, and was descended 
from a line of ancestors who had, now and then, be- 
come eminent as leaders of Ae Irish cause. On his 
mother's side, he was the grandson of the American 
commodore Stewart, who had won, in the war of 
18 12, the sturdy nickname of "Old Iron- Charles 
sides." This was Charles Stewart Parnell. Stewart 
A few years after he entered Parliament, 
a certain section of the Irish members became dis- 
satisfied with the moderate methods and aims of Mr. 
Butt, and of his successor, Mr. Shaw. This section 
desired more vigorous and more aggressive action in 
urging the claims of Ireland ; and, almost as soon as 
it was formed as a distinct party, Charles Stewart 
Parnell became its unquestioned leader. 



288 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Meanwhile another Irishman, who had been con- 
demned and imprisoned as a Fenian, and whose 
parents had suffered from a cruel eviction from their 
land, was maturing a scheme, which, when put into 
operation, was destined to achieve important benefits 
for Ireland. This Fenian convict was Michael 
Davitt ; and his scheme was, to establish a vast 
Formation of "Land League," the purposes of which 
the Land were to get rid of landlordism in Ireland 
altogether, and to make the tillers of the 
soil its owners (1879). The Land League soon be- 
came a large and powerful organization. That ad- 
vanced section of the Home-Rule party which had 
now adopted Mr. Parnell as leader, entered warmly 
into Mr. Davitt's plan ; and Mr. Parnell was chosen 
as president of the league. Meetings in promotion 
of the league's purpose. were held everywhere in Ire- 
land. Its membership ere long reached half a mil- 
lion of Irishmen. Branches of the league were also 
formed in the United States; and Mr. Parnell him- 
self went to the United States to promote its inter- 
ests, and to raise money to aid the poor Irish tenants, 
who were now suffering from a famine caused by 
repeated failures of the crops. 

The agitation of the Land League was soon fol- 
lowed by the second attempt on the part of Mr. Glad- 
stone to settle the Irish land difficulty on a just and 
sound basis. Mr. Gladstone had returned to power, 
for the second time, as prime minister (1880). He 
had at his back a very large majority of the just- 



THE LAND LEAGUE. 289 

elected House of Commons. Sixty Horns Rulers, 
most of whom accepted the leadership and policy of 
Mr. Parnell, sat in the new Parliament. Several 
attempts were made to give temporary relief to the 
starving- Irish tenantry. But the Land League was 
not satisfied. It pursued its ends with ardor and 
energy. So violent, in the view of the government, 
did the agitation become, that Mr. Glad- coercion in 
stone felt compelled to resort to stringent lreland - 
measures to check the operations of the league. A 
new coercion bill was passed. It gave authority to 
the lord-lieutenant to arrest and imprison any Irish- 
man suspected of treason, and to keep him in prison 
for an indefinite period, without a trial. The coer- 
cion act was followed by an arms act, under which 
the officers of the law could search Irish houses for 
fire-arms, and seize them if found. 

The leaders of the league, notwithstanding these 
repressive laws, continued to make fiery and exciting 
addresses before vast meetings of Irishmen. Then 
the ministry went a step farther. Several of the 
Irish leaders were arrested and tried for conspiracy. 
But the jury failed to convict them. Soon after 
Michael Davitt, the founder of the league, . 

o » Arrest of 

and Father Sheehy, a vehement league Davitt and 
speaker, were arrested and thrown into 
prison. At the same time many less important 
members of the league were consigned to Irish jails. 
Even these harsh measures did not awe those leaders 
of the league who were still at large. Incendiary 



29O YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

speeches continued to excite the Irish. Then the 
ministry arrested the chiefs of the league under the 
coercion act. Messrs. Parnell, Dillon (the son of 
the Dillon of " Young Ireland " clays), Sexton, 
O'Brien, and O' Kelly were suddenly committed to 
Kilmainham jail. From their prison cells these 
leaders issued a proclamation to the Irish tenants, 
urging them to pay no rent until the prisoners were 
released. Then the government declared that the 
Land League had acted in violation of the law, and 
ordered its "complete suppression. 

Having, by these strong measures, striven to re- 
store the power of the government in Ireland, Mr. 
The second Gladstone set to work upon his second 
land act. ] anc | scneme . He introduced this into the 
House of Commons in the year after his return to 
office (1881). The new bill created land courts in 
Ireland, which were intended to settle all disagree- 
ments between the landlords and their tenants. To 
these courts was given the power to fix the rents to 
be paid by tenants for a period of fifteen years ; 
to enable tenants to sell the "good will" of their 
holdings ; and to protect tenants from eviction for 
any cause, except the non-payment of the rents es- 
tablished by the courts. The bill, however, did not 
provide any adequate method for enabling the ten- 
ants to become the absolute owners of the soil they 
cultivated. To secure this ownership was the aim 
of the Land League. The Irish leaders refused to 
accept Mr. Gladstone's bill as a final settlement of 



THE LAND LEAGUE. 2()I 

the land question ; yet they did not oppose it. The 
bill, after a series of long debates, finally became a 
law (Aug. 22, 1 881); and the land courts created by 
it began their sessions. They were soon over- 
crowded with tenants who applied to have their rents 
fixed, and the tenure of their holdings secured. 

The courts moved slowly ; and the result was that, 
from month to month, only a very small proportion 
of the thousands of tenants who sought their pro- 
tection, received it. Within a year, it had become 
apparent that Mr. Gladstone's second at- Failure of 
tempt to secure justice to the downtrod- the land act - 
den tenantry of Ireland, was destined, like his first, 
to fall far short of satisfying the demands and needs 
of the Irish people. Meanwhile the Irish tenants 
were suffering as grievously as ever from the tyranny 
of the landlords. Impoverished by a succession of 
bad harvests, they could not pay their rents ; and large 
numbers of evictions took place. The suppression of 
the Land League was followed by the c 

o J suppression 

formation of secret societies and conspira- of the Land 
cies in Ireland, which inaugurated a reign 
of crime and violence. It was evident that the 
coercion act on the one hand, and the land bill on 
the other, had failed to restore order to Ireland. 

Mr. Gladstone, however, did not yet despair of 
satisfying the Irish with English rule. He now re- 
leased from prison Mr. Parnell and his companions, 
and Michael Davitt. He recalled Mr. Forster, the 
chief secretary for Ireland, under whose auspices 



2Q2 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

coercion had been rigorously carried out ; and ap- 
pointed lord Frederick Cavendish, a younger son of 
the duke of Devonshire, in Mr. Forster's place. At 
the same time earl Cowper was succeeded as lord- 
lieutenant by earl Spencer. It was clear that Mr. 
Gladstone had made up his mind to adopt a concili- 
atory policy towards Ireland. Just at this moment 
an appalling crime startled the world, and forced 
Mr. Gladstone to abandon, for the while at least, his 
generous intention. As lord Frederick Cavendish, 
the new chief secretary, and Thomas Burke, a promi- 
nent official of the Irish government, were walking, 
„ . , one day, through Phoenix Park, Dublin, 

Murder of J ' ° ' ' 

Cavendish they were set upon by a band of ruffians, 
and murdered (May 6, 1882). There could 
be no doubt that this hideous crime had been com- 
mitted by Irish conspirators. It at once deprived 
Ireland of the sympathy of Englishmen, and was 
speedily followed by a more severe coercion act than 
that which had preceded it. 

The new coercion act empowered three Irish judges 
to try conspirators without a jury ; and authorized the 
lord-lieutenant to cause houses to be searched ; to 
have any suspicious persons who were abroad after 
dark arrested ; to suppress newspapers ; and to order 
brief and summary trials of suspected persons. With 
this severe measure, however, Mr. Gladstone carried 
through Parliament a bill to partially relieve the 
poorer Irish tenants of their arrears of rent. In 
cases where rent was due for the three years in which 



THE LAND LEAGUE. 293 

the harvest had failed (1878-9-80), the tenant paid 
one year's rent, the treasury one year's Relief f 
rent, and the landlords were required to insh 

., . , T^. • tenants. 

remit one year s rent. I his measure 
brought relief to large numbers of the Irish farmers. 
Coercion, on the other hand, failed to restore order 
in Ireland. An attempt was made upon the life of 
justice Lawson, and upon that of a juryman named 
Field, who had favored the conviction of Irish pris- 
oners. Once more the government arrested and im- 
prisoned Michael Davitt and two other Irish leaders 
for treasonable speeches. 

The murderers of lord Frederick Cavendish and 
Mr. Burke were at last discovered, and suffered the 
penalty of their crime upon the scaffold. It was 
found that a secret band, called the " In- The invinci- 
vincible Society," had not only planned ble Societ y- 
and carried out the killing of Cavendish and Burke, 
but had also attacked justice Lawson and the jury- 
man Field. The Invincible Society was betrayed, 
and its operations were revealed, by James Carey, who 
was its founder and leading spirit. James Carey had 
been a member of the Dublin common council, and 
was a man of good social position. In return for his 
betrayal of his confederates, he received a free par- 
don. Five of the Invincibles were convicted and 
hung, mainly upon Carey's evidence ; and several 
others were sentenced to varying periods of impris- 
onment. James Carey, with his family, left Ireland, 
to take up his abode at the Cape of Good Hope. 



294 YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Just before landing at the Cape, he was killed on 
board ship by an Irishman named O'Donnell. 
O'Donnell was taken to England, tried, and exe- 
cuted. 

Soon after these events, secret societies, composed 
of Irish extremists, began to resort to the use of 
Dynamite dynamite, as a means of striking terror 
explosions. i nt0 t ^ e hearts of the English. A suc- 
cession of explosions by dynamite took place in 
various parts of London, and in other English towns. 
Several of the London railway stations were the 
scenes of more or less violent destruction. The 
most considerable of the dynamite explosions were 
those which took place, on the same day, in Westmin- 
ster Hall and the Tower of London (January, 1885). 
In most cases the perpetrators of these acts escaped 
capture. They at least succeeded in causing a feel- 
ing of alarm and suspense throughout England. Al- 
though the criminals were not always brought to 
justice, it was well known that the dynamite explo- 
sions were the work of Irishmen, and that this 
method of creating terror was supported, in the 
main, by funds collected in America. 



GLADSTONE PROPOSES HOME RULE. 295 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

GLADSTONE PROPOSES HOME RULE. 

THE Irish leaders were not dismayed by the sup- 
pression of the Land League. Within a year 
another association, called the "National League," 
took its place, with Mr. Parnell at its head. The National 
The objects of the new league were an- Lea e ue - 
nounced to be, to make the tillers of the soil its 
owners, and to secure an Irish Parliament for the 
making of Irish laws. It was not long before the 
National League had become as large and as for- 
midable as the Land League had been. Branches of 
it were formed in every part of Ireland, and in the 
United States. The support of the Irish agitation 
by Irishmen in America, indeed, had now become a 
very important feature of its progress. Funds 
poured in from across the Atlantic, and the move- 
ment was to a large degree sustained by American 
money. Mr. Parnell found himself at the head of a 
small but resolute group of young, eloquent, fearless 
Irish members in the House of Commons. The 
"Nationalists," as they were called, resorted to ob- 
struction of the business of the House, whenever 



2Cp YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

they thought it useful to the Irish cause to do so. 
They kept up an active agitation in Ireland ; and so 
indefatigable had the Irish party grown in pursuit 
of its ends, that branches of the league were formed 
and nourished in many English cities and towns. 

The time had now come, in the judgment of Mr. 
Gladstone, the prime minister, to extend the right of 
suffrage to large numbers of the subjects of the 
queen, who had hitherto been excluded from it. 
Household suffrage was already enjoyed by the 
dwellers in the towns and villages of England, Scot- 
The third land, and Wales. Mr. Gladstone now pro- 
reform bin. posed that household suffrage should be 
extended to those who lived in the counties, that is, 
in the rural districts ; and also that it should be given 
to the people of Ireland, both in the towns and in 
the country. He introduced a reform bill, with this 
purpose in view, into the House of Commons (1884). 
The bill was strenuously opposed by the Tories, and 
was once rejected by the House of Lords. But it 
was re-introduced in the autumn, and then became a 
law. Its main provision was, that every subject of 
the queen in Great Britain and Ireland, who was 
twenty-one years of age, and who lived in a dwelling 
owned or rented by himself, should have the right to 
vote for members of Parliament. 

Immediately after the passage of this great and 
beneficent measure, a bill to "redistribute" the seats 
of the House of Commons also became a law. This 
bill made the electoral districts more equal in popu- 






GLADSTONE PROPOSES HOME RULE. 297 

lation, and thus formed a House of Commons more 
completely representative of the will of the people. 
In the summer after these reforms had been carried, 
the Gladstone ministry was defeated on a financial 
question, by a combination of the Tories and Irish 
Nationalists ; and the marquis of Salisbury, with a 
Tory ministry, came into power (June, 1885). Par- 
liament was accordingly dissolved ; and a general 
election for a new House of Commons, held under 
the new extension of the suffrage, took place in the 
autumn. Nearly two millions of voters had been 
added to the electoral lists in the three kingdoms. 
The greatly increased number of voters in Ireland 
made it certain that Mr. Parnell's party would be 
much stronger in the new Parliament than ever be- 
fore. The result of the election was, that T 

Increase of 

neither of the two great English parties Nationalist 
secured a majority i'n the House. The mem 
Liberals elected 333 members; the Tories, 251 ; and 
the Home-Rule followers of Mr. Parnell, 86. Thus 
Mr. Parnell and his followers held the balance of 
power between the Liberals and Tories ; since, by 
uniting with either, they would make a majority of 
the House. 

Upon their accession to office, the marquis of 
Salisbury and his colleagues had refused to renew 
the severe coercion act of their predecessors, and 
had declared their intention to try to keep order in 
Ireland by the ordinary law. But very soon after the 
meeting of the newly elected Parliament (January, 



298 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

1886), the ministry declared that they should revive 
coercion. Upon this, the Nationalists united with 
the Liberals, and defeated the ministry on a resolu- 
tion relating to the English land question. The 
marquis of Salisbury thereupon resigned office, and 
„, . . for the third time Mr. Gladstone became 

Gladstone 

declares for prime minister. No sooner had the Lib- 
cme u e. cra j g ^ unc j er their great and venerable 
chief, returned to power, than it became known that, 
at last, Mr. Gladstone was ready to yield to the de- 
mand of the Irish Nationalists for an Irish Parlia- 
ment. Several of Mr. Gladstone's colleagues in the 
ministry — chief among whom was Mr. Joseph Cham- 
berlain, the leader of the radical section of. the Lib- 
erals — resigned office, because they could not support 
the prime minister in his new Irish policy. Already 
several eminent Liberals — lord Hartington, lord Sel- 
borne, the duke of Argyll, and Mr. Goschen — had 
refused to join the ministry, foreseeing that, if they 
did so, they would probably be called upon to support 
Home Rule. 

Mr. Gladstone promptly filled up the vacant posts 
in his ministry, and on an ever memorable night 
(April, 1886) brought a bill into the House of Com- 
mons, which, if passed into law, would establish a 
Parliament in Dublin, with power to legislate on Irish 
affairs. He proposed that the Irish Parliament 
should consist of two "orders," bat of only one 
house or chamber. One of the orders was to con- 
sist, at first, of the Irish peers, and afterwards of 



i .•'■•'■ 



h 



•- 



V: 







Gladstone explaining his Scheme for the Government of Ireland. 

— Page 298. 






GLADSTONE PROPOSES HOME RULE. 299 

members elected by a restricted suffrage. The other 
order was to be composed of members chosen, as 
now, by household suffrage. The first order was to 
have the right to suspend an act passed by the House, 
for the period of three years. Other safeguards were 
added, to protect the Protestant minority in Ireland. 
To the Parliament so formed, Mr. Glad- „. 

The pro- 
StOIie proposed that all powers should be posed Irish 

given which would not conflict with the 
preservation and unity of the British empire. It 
would have control of the police, of education, and 
of Irish finances. The British Parliament, however, 
would still levy and collect customs and excise in 
Ireland ; and Ireland would pay a tribute to Great 
Britain of ,£4,000,000 a year, as her share in sup- 
porting the empire. 

With his Home-Rule bill, Mr. Gladstone proposed 
a measure to purchase, with funds from the British 
treasury, the estates of the Irish landlords, and to 
parcel out and sell the land thus acquired The ]and 
to the tenants and farmers. This meas- purchase 
ure, however, did not compel the landlords 
to sell their estates ; it only enabled them to do so if 
they wished. The object of the bill was that which 
the Nationalists had long demanded, — the ownership 
of the Irish land by those who cultivate it. The de- 
bates on the Home Rule bill were prolonged through 
the spring, and were earnest, eloquent, and exciting. 
Never did the British House of Commons witness 
more thrilling scenes and episodes. Never did the 



300 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

sturdy old leader of the Liberals rise to loftier heights 
of fervent eloquence and heart-stirring appeal. He 
pleaded that Ireland had hitherto been ruled by- 
force, and that the time had come to win her by jus- 
tice and by love. He exhausted every resource of 
argument, persuasion, and historical illustration, and 
employed every weapon of forensic warfare, to carry 
his bill. The parliamentary conflict raged for weeks, 
as probably it had never raged before. 

The vote on the Home-Rule bill resulted in its 
defeat by a majority of thirty. The Nationalists 
Defeat of under Mr. Parnell, who had accepted Mr. 
Home Rule. Gladstone's measure with gratitude and 
delight, and who had freely declared that it would 
satisfy the aspirations of Ireland, unanimously sup- 
ported the prime minister by speech and vote. But 
nearly a hundred Liberals joined the Tories in their 
inveterate hostility to the bill, and thereby caused its 
overthrow. Mr. Gladstone would not accept the vote 
of the House of Commons as final. He had adopted 
the policy of Home Rule, and was determined to 
stand resolutely and loyally by it. Although Parlia- 
ment was less than a year old, he promptly dissolved 
it, and appealed to the people on the issue of Home 
Rule for Ireland. An election ensued which was 
notable for its brevity and its excitement (July, 1886). 
The Liberals who had deserted Mr. Gladstone in the 
struggle over Home Rule, and had joined his antago- 
nists, made an alliance with the Tories throughout 
the electoral districts. 



GLADSTONE PROPOSES HOME RULE. 30I 

The result of the election was, that a majority 
opposed to Mr. Gladstone's Irish policy was chosen 
to the new House of Commons. The Tories won 
317 seats ; the anti-Gladstone Liberals, 78 ; the Glad- 
stone Liberals, 190; and the Irish Nationalists, 85. 
No one of these parties, therefore, could command 
an absolute majority of the House, which was com- 
posed of 670 members. But the Tories, combined 
with their allies, the anti-Gladstone Liberals, had a 
majority of one hundred and twenty over their Home- 
Rule opponents ; since the whole force in favor of 
Home Rule, including" the Gladstone Liberals and 
the Nationalists, numbered only 275 votes. As soon 
as the result of the election was fully known, Mr. 
Gladstone and his colleagues resigned office ; and for 
the second time, the marquis of Salisbury, The Tories 
at the head of a Tory cabinet, came into return to 
power. The new Parliament was promptly powei 
called together (Aug. 5, 1886), and entered upon its 
career attended by the watchful interest of the world. 
Ireland was still the uppermost, almost the exclusive, 
political topic before the people of the united king- 
dom ; and all men looked forward earnestly to see 
what new phase that great and pressing question 
would assume. 

At this engrossing and critical point in Irish his- 
tory, this narrative must be brought to a close. 
After an almost continuous struggle for liberty ex- 
tending through more than seven hundred years, 
during which Ireland has never consented to rest 



302 YOUNG PEOPLE S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

contented under the rule of the Englishman, the 
Irish people seem at last to have reached a posi- 
in which the right of self-government cannot be 
much longer refused to them. The masterly con- 
. duct of the Irish agitation by Charles 

Prospects of ~ J 

the Irish Stewart Parnell and his patriotic lieuten- 
ants ; the patient attitude of the mass of 
the Irish people during the conflict for Home Rule; 
their instant appreciation of and gratitude to the 
great English statesman, who not only championed, 
but absorbed himself in devotion to their cause, — 
have raised that cause to a dignity and an importance 
which foreshadow its not distant triumph. Whether 
the task of according full justice to Ireland shall be 
finally intrusted to Mr. Gladstone or not, his name 
must always be held in the highest reverence, honor, 
and affection by the Irish people, as one who has 
spent, in their behalf, the later period of a life fruitful 
and illustrious beyond that of any English statesman 
of the present century. 



THE END. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF IRISH HISTORY. 



A.D. 

432 Arrivnl in Ireland of St. Patrick. 

444 Foundation of the see and priory of 
Armagh by St. Patrick. 

450 Foundation of the abbeys of Innis- 
calhery, Downpatrick, Saul, 
Trim, Ardagh, Duleek, Drum- 
shallon, and Louth by St. Pat- 
rick. 

465 Death of St. Patrick. 

500 Foundation of a monastery at Swords 
by St. Columbkill. 

546. Foundation of abbeys at Derry and 
Durrow by St. Columbkill. 

555 Foundation of the abbey of Kells by 
St. Columbkill. 

563 St. Columbkill preaches Christianity 
in the Western Isles. 

572 St. Columbanus. 

590 Foundation of a monastery at Drum- 
cliffe by St. Columbkill. 

650 Irish missionaries on the Continent. 

745 Feargal (Virgilius) flourished. 

795 The Northmen invade Ireland. 

815 Arrival of Purges. 

844 His death. Massacre of the North- 
men by the Irish. 

849 Fresh incursions of Northmen. 

853 Arrival of Amlaf. Nose-money is 
collected. 

872 The Northmen invade Scotland from 
Ireland. 

goo Reign of Cormac McCulinan, King 
of Leinster. 

948 Conversion of the Northmen in Ire- 
land. 

968 Battle of Sulchoid. 

Brian Boru succeeds to the throne of 
Minister. 

980 The Northmen- defeated at Tara by 
Malachy, king of all Ireland. 

983 Brian extends his rule over Leinster. 

gg7 Struggle between Brian and Mala- 
chy. 



A.D. 

1001 Seizure of the throne of Tara by 
Brian. 

1013 Rebellion of Leinster in conjunction 

with the Northmen. 

1014 Battle of Clontarf. Death of Brian. 
Restoration of Malachy. 

1016 Malachy defeats the Northmen. 

1022 Death of Malachy. 

1023 Teige and Donchad, sons of Brian, 

joint rulers of Minister. 
Murder of Teige by Donchad. 
1051 Harold takes refuge with Donchad 
after his rebellion against Ed- 
ward the Confessor. 
I 1058 Donchad becomes titular king of all 
Ireland. 

1063 Donchad defeated by Turlough, son 

of Teige. 

1064 Turlough titular king of all Ireland. 
1086 Death of Turlough. 

IIII Synod of Rath Bresail. 

nig Death of Murkertach. 

1121 Death of Donald O'Loghlin. 

1132 Struggle between Connor O'Brien of 
Minister and Turlough O'Con- 
nor of Connaught. 

1151 Battle of Moinmor. 

Turlough O'Connor titular king of 
all Ireland. 

1152 Synod of Kells. 

1153 Abduction of O'Rourke's wife by 

McMurrough. 

1154 Conflict of Turlough O'Connor with 

O'Lochlin of Ulster. 
1156 Death of Turlough O'Connor. 
1161 O'Lochlin titular king of all Ireland. 
1166 Death of O'Lochlin. 

Rory O'Connor titular king of all 

Ireland. 
1168 Flight of Dermot McMurrough. 
Il6g His bargain with Strongbow. 

Arrival of Fitzstephen. Capture of 

Wexford. 



304 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE' OF IRISH HISTORY. 



A.D. 

1169 Invasion of Ossory. Arrival of Ray- 

mond le Gros. 

Capture of Waterford. 

Arrival of Strongbow. His mar- 
riage with Eva McMurrough. 

Capture of Dublin. 

1170 Synod of Armagh and manumission 

of English slaves. Death of Der- 

mot McMurrough. 
Siege of Dublin. 
Strongbow returns to England and 

makes his peace with Henry. 

1171 Henry II. arrives. 

He receives the submission of the 
chieftains. 

1172 Synod of I hel. 

Government organized by Henry at 

Dublin. 
He returns to England. 

1174 Capture of Limerick. 

1 175 Treaty between Henry and Rory 

O'Connor. 
1177 Prince John Lord of Ireland. 
1184 Prince John lands at Waterford. 

Mutiny of the chieftains. 
Iig3 Death of Rory O'Connor. 
1205 Surrender of two-thirds of Connaught 

by Cathal O'Connor to King 

John. 
Disgrace of De Courcy. 
1210 King John in Ireland. He divides 

it into counties. 
1216 The privileges of the Great Charter 

extended to Irish subjects. 
I2j2i Grant of Connaught to De Burgh by 

Henry III. 
1234 Richard, Earl Marshal, declared a 

traitor and treacherously killed. 
1259 Rising of the McCarthys of Des- 
mond. 
Massacre of the Geraklines. 
1264 Contest between the Geraldines and 

the De Burghs. 
1272 The Irish petition for the extension 

to them of the English laws. 
1277 De Clare invades Thomond. 
1280 Feuds between the Geraldines and 

De Burghs. 
1290 Quarrel between De Vesci and the 

Baron of Offaly. 
1308 Piers ( laveston 1 ird lieutenant. 

1314 Robert Bruce takes refuge in Ire- 

land. 
Battle of Bannockburn. 

1315 Edward Bruce lands at Carrick- 

fergus. 

Rising of the Ulster Irish and the 
discontented English ofMeath. 

Bruce's successes. Rising in Con- 
naught. 



A.D. 

1315 
1316 



I3l8 
1320 
1327 

1329 



1331 

1333 

1336 
1339 

1341 

1342 

1344 



1348 
1349 
I36l 



I3D7 
1309 
1379 
1385 



1387 
1392 



1395 



Bruce is crowned at Dundalk. 

Battle of Athenry. 

Arrival of Robert Bruce. 

He advances to Dublin. Famine. 

He retires into Scotland. 

Battle of Dundalk. Death of Ed- 
ward Bruce. 

A university at Dublin projected by 
Archbishop Bicknor. 

Civil war between the De Burghs 
and the Butlers and the Fitz- 
geralds of Desmond. 

Rising of the MelNlurroughs. 

Unsuccessful petition by the Irish 
for recognition by English law. 

Risings in Thomond, YV'estmeath, 
and the south. 

Maurice Fitz-Thomas Fitzgerald cre- 
ated earl of Desmond and 
granted the palatinate of Kerry. 

He renders assistance to the lords 
justices against the Irish. 

Risings in Leinster. 

Arrest of Desmond, De Bermingham, 
and Mandeville. 

Murder of the earl of Ulster. Par- 
tition of his estates. 

Release of the earl of Desmond. 

Risings in Munster subdued by 
Desrriond. 

The king proposes to resume the 
estates of the great land-owners. 

Parliament summoned to meet at 
Dublin. 

Convention held at Kilkenny. 

Petition' to the king, who gives way. 

Sir Ralph Ufford seizes some ot 
Desmond's estates. 

Desmond surrenders, and is bailed. 

Kildare is arrested. 

Kildare and Desmond pardoned. 

The black death. 

Lionel, duke of Clarence, lord lieu- 
tenant. 

Rising in Munster. 

Statute of Kilkenny. 

Risings in Wicklow and Limerick. 

Ordinance against absentees. 

Robert De Vere, the king's favorite, 
made marquis of Dublin and 
duke of Ireland. 

The king comes of age. 

Rising .if Art McMurrough in Lein- 
ster. 

Richard II. lands at Waterford. 

Submission of the chieftains. 

Richard at Dublin. Reforms the 
judicial bench. Returns to Eng- 
land, leaving the earl of March 
lord lieutenant. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF IRISH HISTORY. 305 



A.n. 

'3Sj Rising of McMurrough and the 
O'Byrnes of Wicklow. 
Defeat" and death of the earl of 
March. 

1399 Richard's second expedition to Ire- 

land. 

1400 Immigration of Scots into Antiim. 

1401 Risings in Wicklow. 

1413 Fre>h struggles between the English 

and ihe natives. 
1418 Art McMurrough captured. 
1421 Ridings in Leix. 
1433 Wars between the O'Neils and 

O'Donnels. 

1438 Statutes against absentees. 

Ihe sixth earl of Desmond marries 
Catharine McCormac, and is ex- 
pelled from his estates by his 
uncle. 

1439 Fitzstephen's moiety of the kingdom 

of Coik granted to the :-eventh 
earl of Desmond. 

1449 Richard, duke of York, lord lieu- 

tenant. 

1450 Risings in Westmeath. - 

1459 Duke of York lakes refuge "in Ireland. 
1461 Ihe eighth earl of Desmond founds 

the College of Youghal. 
1467 The earl of Desmond is charged 

with treason, and executed. 
1472 Institution of the Brotherhood of St. 

George. 
1478 Gerald, eighth earl of Kildare, lord 

deputy for fourteen years. 

1487 Lambert Simnel crowned in Dublin. 
Kildare su-pected of treason. 
Battle of Stoke. 

1488 Kildare is pardoned. 

1489 Fighting in Desmond. 
Fighting in Ulster. 

l4go Perkin Warbeck arrives in Cork. 

I4g2 Fall of Kildare. 

1494 Sir Edward Poyning lord deputy. 

Crushes the adherents of Warbeck. 

Parliament at Drogheda, Poyning's 
Act. 

1496 Arrest of Kildare. 

He is pardoned and made lord dep- 
uty, and governs Ireland till 
1513- 

1497 Warbeck again in Ireland. 
Fighting between the natives and the 

Burkes of Connaught. 
Battle of Knockdoe. 
1513 I )eath of Kildare. His son is elected 

lord justice in his place. 
1516 Feuds in Desmond. 

Feuds in the Ormond family. 
Feuds between Ormond and Kildare, 
and Ormond and Desmond. 



A.n. 

1519 
1521 

1523 
1524 



1526 
1528 

1529 

i53o 

1534 
1535 



1536 
1537 



1538 
1539 



1540 



1541 



1542 
1544 



Kildare summoned to London. 

Risings in Leix and OfiTaly. 

Kildare returns'. 

Desmond holds a treasonable corre- 
spondence with Francis I. of 
France. 

Kildare lord deputy. He is ordered 
to arrest "Desmond, and fails to 
do so. 

Kildare again summoned to England, 
and lodged in the Tower. 

Rising of O'Connor of Offaly. 

He captures lord Delvin, the lord 
deputy. 

Desmond's treasonable correspond- 
ence with Charles V. 

His death. 

Kildare sent back to suppress OlCon- 
nor's rising. • 

Kildare made lord deputy. 

He makes a treaty with O'Connor 
and O'Carrol. 

He is summoned to England, and 
lodged in the Tower. 

His son, lord Thomas, rebels. Be- 
sieges Dublin Castle. 

Skeffmgton captures Maynooth. 

Flight of lord Thomas. Submission 
of O'Connor. 

Lord Thomas surrenders. 

Lord Leonard Gray, lord deputy. 

Lord Thomas Fitzgerald and his five 
uncles executed. 

Lord Leonard Gray's campaign in 
Limerick. 

He destroys O'Brien's Bridge. 

The supremacy supported in Ireland 
by Archbishop Brown, and op- 
posed by Archbishop Cromer. 

The proctors are expelled from Par- 
liament. 

Act of Supremacy (Irish). 

Act for Suppression of Religious 
Houses (Irish). 

Destruction of relics, etc. 

Lord Leonard Gray's expedition into 
Ulster. 

Battle of Belahoe. 

His campaign in Munster. 

Commission for the suppression of 

religions houses. 
Sir Anthony St. Leger negotiates 
with the chieftains. 

Submission of the Irish chieftains 
and Anglo-Irish lords. 

Distribution of Church lands. 

Title of king of Ireland conferred on 
Henry. 

Submission ofO'Neil and O'Donnel. 

General peace in Ireland. 



3 o6 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF IRISH HISTORY. 



A.D. 

1547 Disturbances in Leix and Offaly. 

1548 O'More and O'Connor sent to Eng- 

land as prisoners. 
Civil war between the chieftains and 
the Tanists in Tyrone, Tyrcon- 
nel, and Glanricarde. 

1551 Introduction of the new liturgy. 
Conference with the clergy in St. 

Mary's Abbey. 
Pillage of Clonmacnoise. 

1552 Arrest of the earl of Tyrone (Con 

Hut). 
War between the baron of Dungan- 
non and Shane O'Neil. 

1553 Archbishop Dowclal recalled. 
Dismissal of the Conforming bishops. 
Operations against Leix and Offaly. 
Restoration of the young earl of 

Kildare. 

1555 Fighting in Thomond for the suc- 
cession. 
Continued immigrations of Scots into 
Antrim. 

1356 Act in explanation of Poyning's Act. 

1558 Death of the baron of Dungannon. 
Reduction and Plantation of Leix 

and Offaly. 

1559 Death of Con Mor, earl of Tyrone. 
Shane O'Neil assumes the sov- 
ereignty of Ulster. 

Sir Henry Sidney marches against 

him. 
Negotiations ensue. 

1560 Act of Uniformity (Irish). 
Continued strife in Thomond. 
Shane captures O'Donnel and his 

wife. 

1561 Sussex is defeated by Shane. 
Plots to secure his murder. 
Stvine goes to England. 

Death of secondbaron of Dungannon. 
Elizabeth and Shane come to terms. 

1562 Shane returns to Ireland. 

1563 Peace signed between Elizabeth and 

Shane. 
Shane massacres the Scots of Antrim. 
Struggle between Desmond and Or- 

mond. 
Desmond is taken prisoner. 

1566 Renewal of the war with Shane. 
Hugh O'Donnel joins the English. 

1567 Shane defeated at Lctterkenny. 
Is murdered by the McDonnels. 
Turlough Luinagh becomes " the 

O'Neil." 
Sidney makes a progress through 

Munster and Connaught. 
He arrests Desmond and his brother, 

Sir John, and the sons of the 

earl of Clanricarde. 



A.D. 
1568 



1569 



1571 
1572 

1573 

1574 
1576 

1577 



1580 



Scheme for planting Desmond. 

Sir Peter Carew claims estates in 
Cork and Carlow. 

Rising of Sir James Fitzmaurice 
Fitzgerald; lord Clancarty; and 
Sir Edmund, Sir Piers, and Sir 
Edward Butler in Munster. 

Attainder of O'Neil, and confiscation 
of his Ulster territory. 

Ormond detaches his brothers from 
the Munster insurgents. 

Sir Edward Fitton President of Con- 
naught. 

Rising of the Burkes. 

Sir James Fitzmaurice captures Kil- 
mallock. 

Ormond reduces Munster. 

Sir Thomas Smith endeavors to make 
a plantation in Down. 

Sir John Perrot hunts Fitzmaurice 
into the vale of Aberlow. 

Clanricarde is liberated and Con- 
naught pacified. 

Surrender of Sir James Fitzmaurice. 

Walter Devereux, earl of Essex, ob- 
' tains a grant of territory in Ul- 
ster, and endeavors to make a 
plantation. 

Massacre of Rathlin Island. 

Escape of the earl of Desmond from 
Dublin. 

Death of Essex. 

Sir William Drury President of Mun- 
ster. 

Sir Nicholas Malley President of Con- 
naught. 

Sidney levies illegal taxes on the 
Pale. 

Remonstrance of the loyal English. 

Rory O'More, the outlaw, in Leix 
and Kildare. 

Massacre of Mullaghmast. 

Sir James Fitzmaurice lands at Smer- 
wick. 

Rising of the southern Geraldines. 

Death of Sir James Fitzmaurice. 

Successes of the rebels. 

Death of Sir William Drury. 

Desmond joins the rebels. 

Youghal is burned. 

Campaign of Ormond and Sir Wil- 
liam Pelham in Munster. 

Risings in Wicklow. 

Lord Grey de Wilton defeated at 
Glenmalure. 

The Spaniards land at Smerwick. 

Lord Grey's campaign in Munster. 

Massacre of the Spaniards. 

Risings in the Pale. 

Executions in Dublin. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF IRISH HISTORY. 307 



AD. 

1581 Death of Dr. Saunders, the Pope's 

legate. 

1582 Death of Sir John and Sir James of 

Desmond. 
Suppression of the Munster rebellion. 

1583 Death of Desmond. 

1586 Attainder of the Munster rebels, and 
confiscation of their estates. 
Plantation of Munster. 
Seizure of Red Hugh. 

1588 Arrest of Sir John O'Dogherty and 

Sir Owen McToole. 

1589 Confiscation of Monaghan. 

1591 Tyrone marries Bagnal's sister. 

1592 Escape of Red Hugh. 

1595 Confederation of the Ulster chief- 
tains. 
Death of Turlough Luinngh. Ty- 
rone assumes the title of the 
O'Neil. 

1597 Fighting on the Bhckwater. 
Anarchy in Connaught. 
Death of lord Burgh. 

1598 Blockade of the Blackwater fort. 
Battle of the Yellow Ford. 
General rising. The Sugan earl in 

Minister. 

1599 Lord Essex arrives with a large 

army. 
His campaign in Munster. 
Concludes a truce with Tyrone. 
Is recalled. 

1600 Mountjoy lord deputy. He reforms 

the army. 

Sir George Carew President of Mun- 
ster. 

Sir Henry Docra occupies Derry. 

1601 Capture of the Sugan earl. 
Arrival of the Spaniards at Kinsale. 
Battle of Kinsale. 

1602 Flight of O'Donnel. 
Carew reduces Munster. 

Famine brought on by the wholesale 
destruction of the crops. 

1603 Tyrone surrenders. 
Death of Elizabeth. 

1603 The Catholic clergy ordered to leave 

Ireland. 
1605 Abolition of the laws of Tanistry and 

gavelkind. 

1607 Flight of Tyrone and Tyrconnel. 

1608 Rising of Sir'Cahir O'Dogherty. 
Confiscation of six counties in Ulster. 

1610 Abolition of the I'rehon law. 

1611 Persecution of Roman Catholics. 
The plantation of Ulster. 
Creation of the order of baronets. 

1612 The plantation of Wexford. 

161 3 Parliament summoned. Creation of 

boroughs. 



A.D. 

1614 Attainder of Tyrone and the Ulster 
chieftains. 
Repeal of the old statutes against the 
Irish. 
1619 Plantation of Longford and Ely 
O'Carroll. 
Plantation of Westmeath. 
1622 Plantation of Leitrim, and parts of 

King's and Queen's counties. 
1624 Transplantation of native septs to 
Kerry. 
Confiscations inWicklow. 
Projected planting of Connaught. 
1626 Composition made by the Connaught 
land-owners. 
" The Graces " promised. 
1632-1636 Compilation of the " Annals of 
Ireland" by the Four Masters. 

1633 Wentworth is appointed lord deputy. 

1634 Wentworth dragoons the Irish Par- 

liament. 

1635 Commission of " defective titles " in 

Connaught. 
Sentence on lord Mountnorris. 

1636 I ntroductionofthe linen manufacture. 

1640 Wentworth created earl of Strafford 

and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. 
Augmentation of the Irish army. 

1641 Ormond and Antrim plot to seize the 

Irish government in support of 

Charles. 
Rory O'More's plot to seize the 

Castle. 
Rising and massacres in Ulster. 
The Roman Catholic Anglo-Irish 

join the rebels. 
Siege of Drogheda. 

1642 Risings in Connaught and Munster. 
Arrival of Colonel Owen O'Neil and 

Colonel Preston. 
Synod at Kells. 
Battle of Kilrush. 
Confederation of Kilkenny. 

1643 Battle of Ross. 
Ormond made a marquis. 
Cessation agreed upon between Or- 
mond and the rebels. 

The war continued on behalf of the 
Parliament by the Scots in Ul- 
ster, by Broghill and Inchiquin 
in the south, and by Sir Charles 
Coote in Sligo. 

1644 Ormond lord lieutenant. 
Negotiations with the rebels. 

1645 Glamorgan despatched by Charles to 

make terms with the rebels. 

Arrival of Rinucini, the Pope's legate. 

Glamorgan concludes a secret treaty. 

Its discovery. Glamorgan is ar- 
rested. 



338 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF IRISH HISTORY. 



1645 



1647 



I648 



I649 
I649 



165O 



165I 



1652 



1653 

1654 
I656 
1660 

1660 



l662 
I663 

I665 
I67O 
I67I 



He is liberated. 

Divisions among the Confederates. 

A treaty signed between Ormond 
and the Confederates. 

Battle of Benburb. 

Rinucini and Owen Roe seize the 
government at Kilkenny. 

Ormond surrenders Dublin to the. 
Parliament. 

Battle of Dungan Hill. 

lnchiquin takes Cashel. 

Battle of Knocknanoss. 

lnchiquin deserts to the Confeder- 
ates. 

Rinucini takes refuge with Owen 
Roe's army. 

Strife among the Confederates. 

Return of Ormond. 

Rupert and his fleet arrive at Kin- 
sale. 

Peace published between the king 
and the Confederates. 

Prince Charles proclaimed at Cork. 

Flight of Kinucini. 

Ormond besieges Dublin. 

Battle of Rathmines. 

Arrival of Cromwell. 

Capture of Drogheda. 

Capture of Wexford. 

Death of Owen Roe. 

Campaign in the south. 

Revolt of the southern garrisons to 
Parliament. 

Capture of Kilkenny and Clonmel. 

Cromwell returns to England. 

Surrender of Waterford. 

Flight of Ormond and lnchiquin. 

Capture of Ath!one. 

Capture of Limerick. 

Death of Ireton. 

Surrender of Galway. 

Survey of Ireland. 

Banishment of the Irish soldiery. 

Transplantation of the Irish beyond 
the Shannon. 

The plantation of Ireland continues. 

Henry Cromwell lord lieutenant. 

Coote and Broghill seize the com- 
missioners in Dublin Castle. 

Re-establishment of the Church. 

The king's declaration for the settle- 
ment of Ireland. 

Act of Settlement. 

Court of Claims opens in Dublin. 

Blood's Plot. 

Act of Explanation. 

Toleration of Roman Catholics. 

Petition to review the Act of Settle- 
ment. 



1678 The Popish plot. 



A.D. 
1678 
1679 

168S 



IL87 

1688 
1689 



i6go 

1691 
i6g2 

i6g6 

1698 

1699 
1 701 
1704 
1706 
1708 
1710 



Arrest of Archbishop Talbot. 

Arrest of Archbishop Plunket. 

Richard Talbot made Lieutenant- 
General. 

Reconstruction of the army. 

Reconstruction of the corporations. 

Tyrconnel lord lieutenant 

Persecution of Trinity College, Dub- 
lin. 

Flight of Protestants to England. 

Closing of the gates of Derry and 
Enniskillen. 

Tyrconnel raises regiments for 
James. 

William proclaimed at Derry. 

Siege of Derry and Enniskillen. 

James lands at Cork. 

Hold- a Parliament at Dublin. 

Siege of Derry raised. 

Battle of Newtown Butler. 

Arrival of Schomberg. 

He is besieged at Dundalk. 

Charlemont captured 

William lands at Carrickfergus. 

Battle of the Boyne. 

Flight of James. 

Abortive siege of Limerick. 

William returns to England. 

Capture of Cork and Kinsale by 
Marlborough. 

Capture of Athlone. 

Battle of Aughrim. 

Surrender of Galway. 

Second siege of Limerick. 

Articles of Limerick. 

Emigration of Irish Roman Catho- 
lics. 

Exclusion of Roman Catholics from 
Parliament. 

The House of Commons resist the 
initiation of Money Bills by the 
Privy Council. 

Act for disarming the Roman Cath- 
olics. 

Penal act against foreign education. 

Molyneux's book on the independ- 
ence of the Irish Parliament. 

Penal act against mixed marriages. 

Irish act laying prohibitive tariff on 
the export of wi » ■!. 

Act disqualifying Roman Catholic 
solicitors 

Penal act against the Roman Catho- 
lics. 

Increase of Jacobitism. Domination 
of the High Church party. 

Further act against Roman Catho- 
lic solicitors. 

Penal act against the Roman Cath- 
olics. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF IRISH HISTORY. 



309 



A.D. 

1711 Agrarian disturbances. Ever Joyce. 
The Houghers. 
Persecution of the Presbyterians. 
Sir Constantine Phipps leader of the 
Jacobites. 
1719 Conflict between the English and 
Irish Houses of Lords. 
Toleration Act. 

1723 Wood's patent granted. 

1724 The Drapier's letters. 
Prosecution of Swift's printer. 

1725 The patent cancelled. 
Potato famine. 

1726 Archbishop Boulter lord justice. 

1727 Act disfranchising the Roman Cath- 

olics. 
Tillage Act. 
1734 Further stringent Act against Roman 

Catholic solicitors. 
1740 The Kellymount gang outrages. 
1742 Death of Archbishop Boulter. 
1744 Lord Chesterfield lord lieutenant. 
1747 1 >eath of Archbishop Hoadly. 
1749 Lucas stands for Dublin. 

Threatened with prosecution, he flies 

to England. 
Rivalry between Primate Stone and 

Speaker Boyle. 
Contest in Parliament about the ap- 
propriation of surpluses. 
1753 Prosecution of Nevill. 

Petition of the earl of Kildare. 
Death of Morty Oge O'Sulhvan, the 
smuggler. 
1755 Fall of Primate Stone. 
1757 Formation of the Roman Catholic 
Committee. 

1759 Riots in Dublin on the rumor of a 

contemplated union. 

1760 Thurot's descent on Carrickfergus. 

His defeat and death. 

1761 Insurrection of the Whiteboys. 

1762 Insurrection of the Oakboys. 

1763 Attacks on the ponsion list. 

1764 Roman Catholic Relief Bill thrown 

out. 

1765 Act to Regulate the Law of Highways. 

1766 Execution of Father Sheehy for 

Whileboyism. 

1767 Lord Townshend lord lieutenant. 
Octennial Act. 

1768 Rising of the Steelboys. 

1769 Contest about the Money Bills. Aug- 

mentation Bill passed. 

1771 Extensive emigration to America 

from Ulster. 
Contest about the Money Bills. 

1772 Resignation of Townshend. 

1773 The Irish national debt amounts to 

,£1,000,000. 



A.D. 

1775 Continuation of the Whiteboy out- 

rages. 

Irish troops are sent to America. 

Increase of the debt and of the pen- 
sion list. 

Flood is made a vice-treasurer. 

1776 The embargo. 

1778 First Roman Catholic Relief Bill 

passed. 
I77g Agitation in favor of freedom of trade. 
Formation of the Volunteers. 

1781 Agitation for legislative independ- 

ence. 
The Perpetual Mutiny Bill passed. 

1782 Further Roman Catholic Relief Act. 
Meeting of the Volunteers at Dun- 

gannon. 
Amendment of Poyning's Act. 
Habeas Corpus Act. 

1783 Agitation for parliamentary reform. 
The Volunteer National Convention. 
Rejection of Flood's Reform Bill. 

1784 Rise of the Peep-o'-day Boys and 

Defenders. 

1785 Orde's commercial resolutions. 
Orde's Bill abandoned. 
Agitation for reform. 

1786 Rightboy disturbances. 
Dublin Police Act passed. 

1787 Growth of the Rightboy disturb- 

ances. 
Debates on the tithe question. 

1788 Increase of Defenderism. 

1789 The Regency question in the Irish 

Parliament. 
1791 Agitation for Roman Catholic Eman- 
cipation. 

Formation of the Society of the 
United Irishmen. 
I7g2 Roman Catholic Relief Act. 

Accidental burning of the House of 
Commons. 

Meeting of the Roman Catholic Con- 
vention. 
1793 Petition of the Roman Catholics pre- 
sented to the king. 

Increase of Defenderism. 

Further Roman Catholic Relief Act. 

Convention Act. 

Gunpowder Act. 

Ponsonby's motion on reform re- 
jected. 

Activity of the United Irishmen. 

Secret committee of the House of 
Lords to inquire into the dis- 
turbed state of the country. 

Flight of Nappe r Tandy. 
I7g4 Prosecution of Hamilton Rowan and 
imprisonment of Simon Butler 
and < Miver Bond. 



313 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF IRISH HISTORY. 



a.d. 
1794 



1795 



1796 



1797 



1798 



1800 
X803 



Arrest of Jackson. 

Suppression of the United Irishmen. 
The society is reconstructed as a se- 
cret association. 
Arrival of Lord Fitzwilliam as Vice- 
roy. 
Grattan's bill for complete emanci- 
pation of the Roman Catholics.. 
Recall of Lord Fitzwilliam. 
Trial and d^ath of Jackson. 
Rejection of Grattan's Bill. 
Tone goes to America. . 
Battle of the Diamond. 
Formation of Orange lodges. 
The Insurrection Act. 
Extension of the United Irishmen to 

Leinster. 
French expedition to Bantry. 
Arthur O'Connor is arrested, and 

released on bail. 
Martial law in Ulster. 
Grattan's Reform Bill rejected. 
Secession of the opposition. 
Increase of the United Irishmen. 
Execution of Orr. 
Grattan retires from public life. 
Sir Ralph Abercrombie succeeds 
Lord Carhampton as command- 
er-in-chief in Ireland. 
He resigns his command. 
Martial law in Leinster. 
Mar. 11. Arrest of the executive 
committee of the United 
Irishmen at Oliver 
Bond's. 
May 19. Arrest of lord Edward 
Fitzgerald. 
" 23. Risings round Dublin and 
in Kildare and Carlow. 
" 25. Risings in Wicklow. 
" 27. Risings in Wexford. 
June 4. Battle of New Ross. 
" 7. Risings in Down and An- 
trim. 
" 9. Battle of Arlclow. 
" zi. Capture of Vinegar Hill. 
Aug. 22. The French at Killala. 

" 26. Battle of Castlebar. 
Sept. 8. Rattle of Ballinamuck. 
Oct. 10. French expedition to Lough 
Swilly. Capture of 
Tone. 
Proposal of the Union. 
Opposition to the Union. 
Defeat of the government. 
The Act of Union. 
Robert Emmet's revolt and execu- 
tion. 



1808 Daniel O'Connell first comes into 
notice. 

1822 Famine in Ireland. 

1823 Agitation for Catholic Emancipation. 
1825 Suppression of the Catholic Associa- 
tion. 

1829 Catholic Emancipation won. 

O'Connell takes his seat for Clare. 
1838 Tithes imposed upon landlords. 

Father Mathew's temperance re- 
vival. 
O'Connell begins the agitation for 
Repeal. 

1842 Founding of the " Nation " news- 

paper. 
Rise of the Young Ireland Party. 

1843 Suppression of the proposed meeting 

at Clontarf 
1845 Beginning of the three years' fam- 
ine. 

1847 Increased emigration of the Irish. 

1848 Capture of Voting Ireland leaders. 
1858 Rise of the Fenians. 

1866 The Fenians undertake active opera- 

tions. 

1867 Rescue of Fenians at Manchester. 
The Clerkenwell explosion. 

1868 Mr. Gladstone the first time Prime 

Minister. 
i86g Disestablishment of the Irish Church. 

1870 Mr. Gladstone's first land bill. 

1871 Formation of the Home Rule 

League. 

1873 Bill for Irish University Education 

defeated. 

1874 Fifty-one Home Rulers in Parlia- 

ment. 

1875 Charles Stewart Parnell enters Par- 

liament. 

1879 Mr. Parnell becomes the Home Rule 

leader. 
Michael Davitt founds the Land 
League. 

1880 Mr. Gladstone a second time Prime 

Minister. 

1881 Mr. Gladstone's second land bill. 

1882 Murder of lord Frederick Caven- 

dish and Thomas Burke in 
Phoenix Park. 

1884 The third reform bill passed. 

1885 The Tories come into power. 
Dynamite explosions in London. 

1886 Mr. Gladstone a third time Prime 

Minister. 
Mr. Gladstone proposes his Home 

Rule bill, which is defeated. 
Parliamentary election. 
Return of the Tories to power. 



INDEX. 



ABERCROMBIE, Sir Ralph, 246. 

Absentees, 216, 223, 225. 

Adventurers, the, 187. 

Adrian the Fourth, bull of, 50. 

Agrarian outrages, 150. 

Arch-king, the, 7. 

Argyll, duke of, 29S. 

Arklow, battle of, 250. 

Association, the Catholic, 263 ; the 

Repeal, 26S. 
Athlone, capture of, 114. 
Aughrim, siege of, 203. 

BALTINGLASS, lord, 131. 

Bannockburn, battle of, So. 
Bards, Irish, 1, 12, 45, 94, 160. 
Barry, James, 227. 
Berkley, bishop, 226, 227. 
Berwick, duke of, 198. 
Bishops, the, 22, 99. 
Books, religious, 158. 
Boulter, archbishop, 227. 
Boyne, battle of the, 201. 
Brehons, the, 12, 94. 
Brian, king, 39. 
Bristol, earl of, 236, 240. 
Brooke, 226. 
Browne, provost, 226. 
Bruce, Edward, 81. 
Bruce, Robert, 81. 
Burke, Edmund, 226. 
Burke, Thomas, 292. 
Butlers, the, 77. 
Butt, Isaac, 285. 

Camden, lord, 246, 253. 

Carew, Sir Peter, 128. 
Carey, James, 293. 
Carolan, 228. 



Castlereagh, lord, 253, 255. 
Cavendish, lord Frederick, 292. 
Celts, the, 4. 

Chamberlain, Joseph, 298. 
Charlemont, earl of, 236, 240. 
Charles the First, king of England, 

161. 
Charles the Second, king of England, 

180, 190. 
Charter schools, 222, 232. 
Christianity in Ireland, 22. 
Church, the Irish, 58, 91, 115, 118, 

195. 
Church, the Protestant, 165, 192, 257, 

258, 281. 
Clare, lord, 242, 253, 255. 
Clarence, the duke of, 84. 
Classes, the Irish, 153. 
Clerkenwell explosion, 278. 
Clontarf, battle of, 41 ; meeting at, 

269. 
Coercion laws, 272, 289, 292. 
Colonists in Ireland, 153. 
Colonization of Ireland, 127, 135. 
Columkill, 26. 

Commerce, Irish, 44; decline of, 186. 
Connaught, planting of, 151, 165; 

Irish expelled to, 1S4. 
Cornwallis, marquis, 253, 255. 
Counties, division into, 70. 
Cowper, earl, 292. 

Cromwell, Oliver, 180-189; settle- 
ment of Ireland by, 186-193. 
Curran, John Philpott, 243, 260. 

DANES, the, invade Ireland, 35 ; 

religion of, 37; defeat of, 41. 
Davis, Thomas, 273. 
Davitt, Michael, 288. 
De Courcy, John, 67. 



3 1 



312 



INDEX. 



De Lacy, Hugh, 70. 
Dermic! of Leinster, 50. 
Desmond, earls of, 84, 104, 130. 
Dillon, John, 290. 
Dillon, John Blake, 273. 
Donald the Second, 32. 
Donogh the First, 34. 
Drogheda, carnage at, 181. 
Druids, the, 11, 19. 
Dublin, 229; surrender of, 179. 
Dublin Philosophical Society, 226. 
Dublin Society, 227. 

Education, Irish, 283. 

Edward the First, law of, 8b. 
Edward the Second, king of England, 

So. 
Edward the Third, king of England, 

83- 

Elections of chiefs, 29. 
Elizabeth, queen of England, 120. 
Emancipation, Catholic, 263, 264. 
Emigration of the Irish, 220, 272. 
Emmet, Thomas Addis, 243, 247. 
Emmet, Robert, 260. 
Essex, Robert Devereux, earl of, 142. 
Essex, Walter Devereux, earl of, 127. 
Execution of Irish chiefs, 183. 
Exports, Irish, 271. 

Falkland, lord,- 162. 

Famine, 223, 270. 

Farmers, Irish, 93. 

Fenians, the, 276. 

Feudal system, introduced into Ire- 
land, 57. 

Firbolgs, the, 2. 

Fitzgerald, James Fitzmaurice, 128. 

Fitzgerald, lord Edward, 243, 247, 
24S. 

Fitzgerald, Margaret, 97. 

Fitz James, the prior, 19S. 

Fitzwilliam, lord, 242. 

Fitzwilliam, Sir William, 137. 

Flood, Henry, 233, 240. 

Formosians, I 

Forster, William E., 292. 

Fusion of races, iyo. 

C.VL WAY, fall of, 1 S3. 
Garrick, in Dublin, 229. 
Gavelkind, 9. 



Geraldines, the, yy, 113. 

Gladstone, William Ewart, 280-302. 

Goldsmith, Oliver, 226. 

Goschen, G. J., 298. 

Graces, the, 162. 

Grattan, Henry, 233, 237, 239, 257, 

261. 
Gray, lord Leonard, 113. 
Grey of Wilton, lord, 131. 

Handel, 229. 

Hartington, lord, 298. 

Heart-of-steel Boys, the, 218. 

Henry the Second, 50. 

Henry the Fourth, 89. 

Henry the Seventh, 102. 

Henry the Eighth, m. 

Highways, 45. 

Home Rule league, the, 285 ; bill, the, 

298. 
Hugh the Second, 31. 
Hugh the Fifth, 34. 
Hutcheson, 226. 

Industries, crippled, 213. 

Intermarriages, 79. 

Invincibles, the, 293. 

Iona, settlement of, 26. 

Ireland, invasion of, by Britons, 33 ; 
invasion of, by Danes, ;s ; colo- 
nization of, 127; plantation of, 
144-152; conquest of, by Crom- 
well, 1S2; settlement of, by 
Cromwell, 1S6-193. 

Ireton, Henry, 1S2. 

Irish, the ancient, 9. 

Ironsides, in Ireland, 181, 187. 

JAMES the First, 145. 
James the Second, 195. 
John, king of England, 69. 
Jones, John Paul, 236. 

KlLDARE,Gerald,earlof, 102, 10S ; 
Gerald the Second, 112; Thomas 
of, 1 12. 

Kilkenny, parliament of, S5 ; conven- 
tion of, 1 ". 

King, archbishop. 

Kin's, early Irish. 28; rights of, 30. 
fall of. 145. 

Knockdoc, battle of, 109. 



INDEX. 



313 



L.AKE, general, 247. 

Land, the Irish, 59, 92, 134, 147, 166, 

186, 192, 210, 282, 2S6, 290. 
Land court, established, 191. 
Land league, the, 288. 
Land-purchase bill, the, 299. 
Law courts, 58. 

Laws, Irish, 10, 29, 44, 73, S5, 90. 
Lawyers, Irish, 211. 
League of the chiefs, 140. 
Learning in Ireland, 47, 96. 
Legends, Irish, 1. 
Leinster, confiscations in, 150. 
Leinster, duke of, 236. 
Limerick, treaty of, 203. 
Londonderry, siege of, 199. 
Lucas, Charles, 233. 

Madden, 227. 

Manchester, rescue at, 278. 
Martin, John, 273. 
Mary the First, 118. 
Mary the Second, 196. 
Mathew, Father, 268. 
McCarthys, the, 28. 
McMurrough of Leinster, 87. 
Meagher, Thomas Francis, 273. 
Mitchel, [ohn, 273. 
Molesworth, 227. 
Monasteries, 25, 95, 114. 
Mortimer, Roger, S7. 
Mountjoy, lord, 144. 
Minister, planting of, 128. 
Murphy, Father, 249. 

" Nation," the, 274. 

National league, the, 295. 
Nemedhians, the, 2. 
Normans, the, invade Ireland, 49 ; vic- 
tory of, 56. 

OAKBOYS, the, 217. 
Oates, Titus, plot of, 194. 
O'Brien, Smith, 273. 
O'Brien, William, 290. 
( CBriens, the, 28. 
O'Connell, Daniel, 262. 
O'Connor, Arthur, 243. 
O'Connor, Cathal, 73. 
O'Connor, Conor, 66. 
O'Connor, Roderick, 50, 64. 
O'Connors, the, 28. 



O'Doherty, Kevin I., 274. 

O'Donnel, the chief, 136. 

O'Donnel, Red Hugh, 136, 138. 

O'Kelly, Mr., 290. 

O'More, Rory, 171. 

< >'Neil, Donald, 80. 

O'Neil, Hugh, earl of Tyrone, 138- 

147. 
O'Neil, Phelim, 171, 183. 
O'Neil, Red Owen, 176.' 
O'Neil, Shane, 121-125. 
O'Neiis, the, 28, 43. 
Orange, William of, king of England, 

106, 201. 
O'Reilly, the chief, 174. 
Ormond, earl of, 175, 178. 

P.ALE, the English, 83, 116, 176. 
Parliament, the Irish, 105, 164, 198, 

205. 
Parnell, Charles Stewart, 2S7. 
Parnell, Sir Henry, 262. 
Parnell, Sir John, 256. 
Parnell, the poet, 226. 
Parties, three Irish, 180. 
Patrick, Saint, 14-21 
Patriot party, the, 219. 
Penal laws, the, 20S-214. 
Pensions, 232. 
Perrot, lord-deputy, 136. 
Physico-Historical Society, the, 227. 
Plantation of Ireland, 144-152. 
Poyning, Sir Edward, 106 ; act of, 

107, 198, 231. 
Priests, proscribed, 189. 
Prior, 227. 

Provinces, ancient Irish, 12. 

QUEEN'S colleges, the, 2S4, 2S5. 

Rebellion, of Shane O'Neil, 

121— 125; of Hugh O'Neil, 139- 
143; the ten years', 169-177. 

Religion in Ireland, 46. 

Rent, arrears of, 292. 

Rent, the Catholic, 263. 

Revival, temperance, 26S. 

Revolution, the English, 196. 

Richard the First, 71. 

Richard the Second, 85. 

Robin Hoods, the, 135. 

Roche, Father Philip, 249. 



314 



INDEX. 



Roses, wars of the, 89. 
Rowan, Hamilton, 241. 

St. NICHOLAS, college of, 159. 

Saint Ruth, general, 203. 

Saints, Irish, 25. 

Salisbury, marquis of, 297, 301. 

Sarsfield, general, 202. 

Schomberg, general, 199. • 

Schools, ancient Irish, 23 ; charter, 

222, 232; elementary, 268. 
Selborne, lord, 298. 
Septs, the, 8. 
Sexton, Mr., 290. 
Shaw, Mr., 2S6. 
Sheehy, Father, 289. 
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 226. 
Shiel, Richard Lalor, 262. 
Ship-building, suppressed, 214. 
Sidney, Sir Henry, 124, 128. 
Simnel, Lambert, 103. 
Skelton, 226. 
Slavery in Ireland, 44. 
Smuggling, 220. 
Somerset, the protector, 118. 
Spencer, earl, 292. 
Stevens, James, 276. 
Sterne, Lawrence, 226. 
Strongbow, 52, 62. 
Suffrage, household, 296. 
Swift, Jonathan, 218, 219, 226, 232. 
Synge, 227. 



Tandy, james, 241. 

Tithes, 222, 267. 
Tone, Wolfe, 241, 244, 245, 252. 
Tories, the Irish, 185, 188, 196. 
Trinity College, 157, 284. 
Truce, the three years', 178. 
Tuatha de Danans, 2. 
Turges, 38. 

Tyrconnel, O'Donnel, earl of, 124; 
Richard Talbot, earl of, 195 

ULSTER, tenant right, 149 ; war in, 

l 73- 
United Irishmen, the, 240, 247. 

Union, act of, 258. 

Vinegar hill, battle of, 250. 

Volunteers, the Irish, 236. 

WARBECK, Perkin, 104. 
Wellington, duke of, 264. 
Wentworth, Sir Thomas, earl of Straf- 
ford, 163-168. 
Wexford, massacre at, 182. 
Whiteboys, the, 217, 261. 
Windsor, treaty of, 65. 
Wood, William, patent of, 218. 
Workhouses, 224. 
Writers, Irish, 96, 159. 

YOUNG Ireland party, the, 273. 



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